


H2O: A New Tail

by paris_girl22



Category: H2O: Just Add Water
Genre: Abduction, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Background Emma Gilbert/Ash Dove, Background Rikki Chadwick/Zane Bennet, Bella Will and Sophie don’t exist, Cleo-centric, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Established Relationship, Experiments, F/M, Full Moon, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Lewis is a merman, Lewis is everything, Lewis-centric, Mako Island, Mermaids, Mermen, Mild Language, h2o just add water - Freeform, mer!Lewis - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 11:00:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 37
Words: 91,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27849814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paris_girl22/pseuds/paris_girl22
Summary: Lewis, Cleo, Emma, Rikki, Zane and Ash are all beginning their final year of high school. Charlotte is gone, and everyone seems happy. Well, at least for the most part. The girls’ big secret is a major part of all of their lives now, but none of them realised how much it was all taking a toll on Lewis. One night, Lewis heads to Mako Island to do some experiments and tests, still desperate for answers; and his life changes forever. Lewis should have known it was a terrible idea to go to Mako Island alone on the night of a full moon.
Relationships: Cleo Sertori/Lewis McCartney, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 40
Kudos: 50





	1. Preparations

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, so I’ve been watching h2o on netflix recently and it has been such a nostalgic trip down memory lane. That show was my childhood! 
> 
> Anyway, inspired by watching h2o again, here is the beginning of a new story that I always kind of wished happened in the actual show, but alas, it did not. But at least it can exist in fan fiction form 😀. I’m hoping to update regularly, especially since I’m currently highly motivated to keep writing this. I have the entire plot planned out in my head and I’m super excited! I hope you all enjoy 😀
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own h2o or any of its characters. I’m merely taking inspiration from the show and writing about things that I wished happened in it😊

“So, you guys are aware that there’s a full moon this Saturday, right? How are you all feeling about it?” Lewis McCartney asks the three girls sitting around him in the booth quietly, before taking a sip of his juice.

“Ugh, I’d really rather not think about that right now, Lewis. That’s in four days time, why do we need to plan so far ahead? And besides, it’s not like our prepping has ever actually helped us anyway.” Rikki Chadwick groans and rolls her eyes in annoyance, tired of the science geek always mothering them about the dangers of being a mermaid and the full moon. Emma is bad enough, and Lewis is just too much in Rikki’s opinion.

“Well, I like to be prepared anyway. It at least makes me feel a little calmer on the day of the full moon at least. And besides, no preparation would just make things a hundred times worse,” Cleo Sertori interjects, sticking up for her boyfriend, glancing over to him for a moment with a comforting smile, which Lewis is grateful for and can’t help but smile back while reaching out for her hand and squeezing it gently.

“Lewis is right, Rikki. We can’t be unprepared. Every month, the moon hits one of us, and every month, bad stuff happens.” Emma warns the fellow blonde girl solemnly.

“Yeah well, I’m sick of it, and I’m sick of Lewis thinking he knows how we’re feeling and telling us what to do when he doesn’t actually know anything about the full moon at all!” Rikki says in a huff, noticing Lewis wince a little as she speaks. For a moment, she feels a slight pang of guilt, but she quickly pushes that emotion aside, knowing that she wanted to speak her mind about this issue for ages. She also ignores the hard glares that Cleo and Emma are giving her.

“Look, maybe I don’t exactly know what you girls go through, but I feel like I still have a pretty good understanding of everything, and sometimes it’s good to have an outsider’s perspective on things. It gives the most unbiased results.” Lewis concedes, and Rikki just rolls her eyes.

“Don’t try and pretend to know what all of this is like, you have no idea! And your plans to keep us safe never work anyway, so maybe you need to just leave us alone on full moons!” Rikki snaps harshly.

“Rikki!” Cleo and Emma scowl at their fiery friend.

“Please, you both know it’s true,” Rikki scoffs before finishing the last of her juice.

“Why are you in such a mood today?” Emma drowns sternly.

“I’m not, I’m just speaking the truth.” Rikki retorts. Cleo listens to his friends argue in disbelief, wondering how the hell things changed so quickly. Only a minute ago, things were great and everyone was happy and talking about random things. Cleo glances over to Lewis, and notices that he has become really quiet, which isn’t really like him, especially in an argument with Rikki. Those two probably bicker the most, even more than Emma and Rikki. Usually, it’s all light hearted, but this felt a bit different, and it was clear to Cleo that Lewis knew it.

“Rikki, Lewis does more for us than you realise.” Cleo speaks up to defend her boyfriend firmly.

“What, like leading a marine biologist to finding out mermaids actually exist? Dating a psycho who he stupidly let find out about mermaids and tried to kill us, and forced you to run away? Yeah, some help.” Rikki seethes, her eyes narrowing. She definitely has not forgiven Lewis for Charlotte yet, which is probably why she’s letting out all of her frustration now.

“Rikki! That’s not fair!” Cleo exclaims loudly, almost at a yell, causing a few patrons of the Juicenet cafe to turn their heads towards them in confusion.

“No, she’s right, I haven’t always been careful, but it has never been my intention to hurt any of you guys. I just want to help, and protect you.” Lewis pipes up, a guilty and sad look in his eyes.

“Well, maybe stop trying to help us, because you just make things worse.” Rikki hisses, not caring about the look of shock and hurt that appears on Lewis’ face.

“Rikki!” Cleo scowls once more.

“I don’t want to be mothered by someone who doesn’t even have any understanding of what this stuff is actually like. You can’t science your way out of everything, Lewis. Especially when it comes to Mako Island.” Rikki replies with a nonchalant shrug. Everyone falls into absolute silence at that, tension thick in the air. Despite having some extremely vocal harsh opinions, some of her points did resonate with the others, and no one knew how to voice that.

“My parents are okay with me having some friends over this weekend while they go camping with Elliot, but I had to promise them no boys. I’m sorry Lewis.” Emma finally admits guiltily.

“Oh... okay, sure, that’s fine, no worries. I’m glad you’ve got a place you can keep safe in without having to worry about anyone. Just, uh, call me if you need anything, I guess?” Lewis stammers a little awkwardly as he runs a hand anxiously through his hair, trying to ignore the pang in his heart, knowing that as much as he tries, he will never truly be one of them, and there’s only so much he can do to help. Lewis’ science and logic has not really made the mermaids lives any easier, as magic doesn’t play by the laws of science. It just makes Lewis feel so helpless, always wanting to be there for his friends and girlfriend, but knowing that will not always be the case.

“Lewis... you know that we need you, right? We couldn’t do any of this stuff without you.” Cleo asks as she gazes at Lewis worriedly, and squeezes his hand reassuringly. 

“Thanks, Cleo,” Lewis glances over to his girlfriend and smiles appreciatively.

“And of course if we need anything or something is wrong we will call you, I promise.” Cleo reassures her boyfriend confidently.

“Good. I just really don’t want you guys to get hurt. Maybe I seem overbearing at times, but it’s only because I care about you guys. I just... I feel like it would be my fault if something terrible happened.” Lewis sighs, rubbing his hands over his face, suddenly feeling exhausted. He tries not to show it, but the last couple of years have really taken a toll on him. Ever since the girls became mermaids, Lewis has been a huge ball of anxiety and stress, never feeling like he can completely put his guard down in case something bad happens. Charlotte proved why he can’t let his guard down. He still can’t believe all of the things she did to hurt the girls, especially Cleo. It pains Lewis every time he thinks about that. The girls trusted him with their secret, and he is trying his best to honour it, although it seems that he has been failing a bit lately.

“Lewis, don’t beat yourself up. You don’t have to look out for us, but you do anyway, because you’re a great guy. But in the end, it’s our responsibility to look out for ourselves. We can’t let people completely bend over backwards and destroying their lives to save our asses.” Emma tells the blond teenage scientist encouragingly.

“I know,” Lewis sighs once again, still feeling deflated, but he understands where his friends are coming from.

“Hey, how about you have a boys night on Saturday? With Ash and Zane?” Cleo suggests helpfully, and Lewis can’t help but smile as he watches Cleo’s entire face light up.

“Yeah, maybe. I’ll see if they’re busy. Anyway, I gotta go. I have to finalise a report for physics tomorrow.” Lewis says as he stands up, the girls following suit.

“See you later, Lewis.” Cleo says before leaning in and giving him a quick kiss, which causes Rikki to gag from behind her.

“I don’t need to see all of this lovey dovey crap. Just hurry it up!” Rikki groans, warning an elbow into her side from a glaring Emma. Rikki looks at her in confusion, not thinking that she had done anything wrong. Emma just rolls her eyes at her oblivious friend.

“Alright, I’ll see you guys later. I’ll call you in a couple of hours, Cleo.” Lewis smiles and gives his friends a wave before he gets up from the booth and walks out of the Juicenet cafe still feeling a little disappointed about Saturday as well as still being wracked with guilt about Charlotte and Doctor Linda Denman.

~~~

“Hmm, so you promise there’s not going to be any boys over this weekend, right?” Emma’s mother, Lisa hums as she paces across the living room floor, not particularly wanting her daughter to miss out on a camping trip again. 

“Yes Mum, I promise. It’ll just be me, Cleo and Rikki.” Emma replies earnestly.

“Good. If we come back and find there are boys here, I’ll make sure to ground you until you move out of this house.” Lisa says as she comes to a stop and stares at her daughter pointedly.

“I understand, Mum.” Emma nods, a little frustrated that they have to go over the same topic again after they had discussed it days ago.

“It’s just that you have your boyfriend now, and Cleo and Rikki do too I believe, and it’s just... you’re too young for all of that stuff. I don’t want you to be alone with Ash all weekend while we are out of town,” Lisa explains a bit awkwardly, not enjoying needing to have this talk with her daughter.

“Mum!” Emma exclaims in a fluster as she goes bright red.

“Sorry, I know it’s embarrassing, but you’re only 17, Emma. You’re still my baby girl,” Lisa apologises as she walks over to her daughter and pulls her in for a side hug.

“Well, technically I’m only going to be a child for another six months,” Emma smirks as she pulls out of the hug a few seconds later.

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” Lisa groans, not understanding how the time has flown by. She could have sworn Emma was a toddler only a couple of years ago. And yet, she is in her last year of high school. Emma chuckles at her mother’s remark.

“Thanks for letting me stay home and having my friends over this weekend, Mum. I really appreciate it.” Emma smiles appreciatively. 

“You’re welcome, Emma. But you have to come camping with us one of these days. It doesn’t feel the same without you.” Lisa responds.

“I know, I’ll try.” Emma says, trying to not let any uncertainty waver in her voice. Of course she wants to go camping with her family again, but it just seems too risky. Especially the couple of times they’ve camped at Mako Island (not on a full moon night thankfully). Maybe one day though... maybe one day.

“Anyway, would you be able to start dinner for me, Em? I’ve still got to do some last minute packing before we leave tomorrow morning. And I doubt Neil has even started packing yet, so I’ll probably have to do that too.” Lisa asks hopefully.

“Sure, Mum. Anything in particular that you’re feeling like?” Emma smiles as she walks towards the kitchen.


	2. Confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second chapter! I hope you guys enjoy :)

“Wow, you make it look so easy,” Lewis comments in awe as he watches Ash and his horse Rebel fly over yet another jump so effortlessly. Ash canters around riding rink once more, this time avoiding the jumps, and then slows Rebel down to a trot as he makes his way over to where Lewis is sitting on the fence of the rink. Eventually, Ash pulls the beautiful horse to a stop.

“Thanks. It definitely isn’t as easy as it looks,” Ash grins, gently stroking the horse’s neck affectionately.

“Yeah, I reckon I would fall off as soon as the horse starts walking,” Lewis says with a laugh, the mental image of him struggling to even get on a horse enter his mind.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t be that bad,” Ash chuckles in return.

“Ha, you say that now,” Lewis counters.

“Well, if you practiced, you would get better, and maybe one day be able to walk around the arena,” Ash suggests with a grin.

“No thanks, I’ll just stick to fishing. But it’s great watching you ride, though.” Lewis decides firmly.

“Man, you should’ve seen Emma when she was here with Elliot for his horse riding lessons. She was so stubborn and determined to believe that she was great and didn’t need any help, but uh... she could barely even get on the horse. When she did get on, she ended up backwards.” Ash comments, chuckling at the memory of his first encounter with Emma.

“Oh wow, yeah, Emma never told me that part of the story,” Lewis laughed, completely believing that Emma would be too stubborn to admit that she was wrong, or that she needed help. He’s also definitely not surprised Emma had not mentioned this to him or anyone else before. Lewis likes to hope that he knows when it’s time to ask for help instead of continuing to look like an idiot.

“Dude, she poisoned your horse, right? Honestly, it sometimes puzzles me how you two ended up together.” Lewis adds after his laughter dies down.

“Yeah, looking back at it, I’m surprised too. But, I’m glad we are together, I love her so much. And I’m so glad I finally know her secret, and I think Emma is too. She seems happier, like she’s had a weight lifted off her chest.” Ash replies thoughtfully as he dismounts from Rebel and leads him over towards the gate out of the rink. Lewis jumps down from the fence and walks alongside Ash.

“She definitely seems happier, I agree. She wanted to tell you for so long, as I think you might have gathered that night at her house on a full moon when she was in the bathtub and I shoved you out the house.” Lewis comments, remembering that night vividly. He had been in such a panic, trying to get to the girls in time. At the time, he didn’t really know Ash, so he had no idea how he would react to Emma being a mermaid, and Lewis absolutely did not want the chance to take that risk. It just wasn’t worth it. Lewis is glad that Ash finally knows now though, and he found out because Emma wanted him to know.

“Yeah, that night definitely was uh... strange.” Ash admits as he leads Rebel back towards the stables, with Lewis walking by his side.

“Every full moon is strange, and you don’t get used to it,” Lewis sighs, hoping that maybe this full moon could be the least eventful for the mermaids. As much as Lewis wants to help, he has to respect them for wanting to do this on their own. If they’re in trouble, Lewis is sure one of them will call.

“Yeah, you can say that again,” Ash huffs, remembering the night at Emma’s house, all her appliances seemed to come alive and how a massive tendril of water from the tap completely soaked him from head to toe. He now knows that it was because of Charlotte, but it’s still the weirdest night he has ever experienced. Ash enters the stables with Rebel and Lewis, and they walk back over to Rebel’s specific stable, opens the door and walks her inside, with Lewis deciding to stand on the outside of the stable instead, closing the door and locking it into place so that Rebel doesn’t run off. Ash then begins untacking all of Rebel’s riding gear, hanging them over the stable door.

“Hey, Ash? Can I ask you something?” Lewis asks nervously while he twiddles with his thumbs. Ash looks up from where he’s undoing the girth of the saddle with curiosity.

“Of course, Lewis. Shoot.”

“Well, I don’t know if it’s really a question, more like a worry. I guess it’s just that I’ve been feeling like I’m not part of the team anymore, you know?” Lewis begins, mumbling a little bit. Ash stands up and stares at Lewis in confusion.

“What do you mean? What team?” Ash questions the blond teenager standing outside the stable.

“I just... after everything that’s happened, I... I feel like I’m slipping away from the girls. I just hate myself for being so useless sometimes, unable to help them with what they are going through, whether that be a full Moon, or never being able to go anywhere without being worried about being splashed. I’m a scientist, I should have figured this out, but I’m no more closer to proper answers since I first started researching two years ago! I just want to make their lives easier, but I worry that I make it worse. I’ve definitely made it worse at some points along the way, which Rikki reminded me of today.” Lewis begins to explain in a ramble, and it feels like a pressure has been lifted from his chest that he hadn’t known was there, relieved to finally talking about the emotions he has kept bottled up for a while. Ash pulls off the saddle and hangs it over the edge of the stable door and goes back to Rebel, beginning to pull the saddle blanket off, while contemplating what Lewis has said.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Lewis. You’ve been such a great help to the girls over the years, always looking out for them and trying to help them. And sure, maybe sometimes we don’t always do the best thing to help someone, it doesn’t mean that our heart wasn’t in the right place. Everyone makes mistakes, don’t beat yourself up over it. And certainly don’t get angry at yourself for not having figured out the power of Mako Island yet, Magic isn’t exactly a follower of science.” Ash says as he walks back over to the stable door and hangs the saddle blanket over the saddle. He continues standing by the door, staring at and examining Lewis closely with concern written all over his face.

“What if the girls are getting sick to death of me though? What if Cleo is? Rikki made it pretty obvious that she was sick of me trying to help them through full moons and the experiments, and I’m sure Cleo and Emma are the same but just don’t want to say. I just... I don’t know what I’d do if I lost them... and if I lost Cleo... again.” Lewis admits, sighing sadly, feeling defeated.

“I’m sure that’s not the case. Rikki is a fiery girl, and sometimes says stuff that she doesn’t necessarily mean and it’s just in the heat of the moment. From my understanding, she is really glad that they have you. And as for Emma, I know she appreciates you being around. She’s told me many times how annoying it is that it seems to be only her and you worrying about the full moons now and wanting to prepare properly. She’s glad that at least you’re still sane,” Ash tells his friend with a comforting smile.

“And Cleo?” Lewis frowns worriedly.

“Dude, she loves and cares for you so much, of course she trusts you. She needs you just as much as you need her.” Ash continues reassuringly.

“She has broken up with me before...” Lewis mumbles under his breath as he gazes down at the ground, not thinking that Ash would be able to hear, but unfortunately for him, Ash does hear his comment.

“That was then. Things have changed, a lot, since then. Live in the now.” Ash advises the forlorn looking teen wisely.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Lewis relents, definitely feeling a bit better and more reassured after talking to Ash, appreciating a somewhat outsider’s perspective.

“Of course I’m right. My mum is a psychologist, so I’ve learnt a thing or two from her.” Ash grins smugly.

“Fair enough,” Lewis responds as he notices the ball of anxious energy and feet that is usually constantly thrumming from within him starts to calm down a little bit, much to Lewis’ relief, albeit a surprise.

“Why don’t we do this more often? We need more chats like this.” Lewis adds with a laugh, seriously wondering why he hadn’t really talked much with Ash before.

“Yeah, we definitely do. Maybe next time, I can try and get you to get on a horse.” Ash grins mischievously in response, causing Lewis to groan in dismay a little bit.

“Please don’t,” Lewis whines, which only makes Ash smirk even more.

“Trust me, you won’t be worse than Emma. And even then, I eventually managed to get her to a basic level of riding skills.” Ash says, hoping to convince Lewis.

“I’ll have to get back to you on that one,” Lewis says evasively as he steps away from the stable.

“I’ve gotta go now Ash. Talk to you later!” Lewis waves in farewell as he begins to walk away, and he hears Ash call out a farewell in response.

~~~

It’s 4pm on Friday afternoon, and Lewis is sitting on the sand in the cave of the moon pool, staring down at the water towards his girlfriend in amazement, admiring her orange and golden tail swishing about behind her.

“I still can’t get over your tail. It’s really something else,” Lewis admits a little breathlessly. Cleo glances over her shoulder to have a look at her tail as well.

“Yeah, me neither honestly. It’s the most freaky feeling. One part of me loves it and knows that it feels right, and that I belong in the ocean. Another part of me still feels weirded out by the whole thing, and surprised that I just use my tail instinctively, not even really needing to think about it,” Cleo admits as she turns back to look up at Lewis.

“I don’t know if I could handle that,” Lewis laughs, running a hand through his hair as he tries to imagine the possibilities of him having a tail. Before he can really delve into those impossible possibilities, Cleo snaps him out of his thoughts.

“Well, can anyone really handle it though? I mean, who can handle just a human life?” Cleo says with a shrug of her shoulders.

“True, true.” Lewis nods in agreement. He glances over back over to Cleo’s tail once more, admiring the glistening and shiny scales, and how her tail looks so strong and powerful, managing to speed her through the water like a torpedo. He then focuses his attention back onto Cleo’s face, with her hair soaking wet hanging down and floating about in the water, water dripping down her face, and Lewis swears that her complexion is more shiny and bright than it is when she’s human. Lewis smiles fondly, feeling so lucky to have such beautiful girl, both on the inside and out, in his life. Cleo quickly notices him staring.

“What is it?” Cleo frowns curiously, hoping that there isn’t anything in her hair, or her teeth. Oh god, what if there was snot running down her nose?! Cleo’s frantic thoughts are quickly interrupted by Lewis’ answer.

“You’re so beautiful,” is all Lewis has to say a little breathlessly. 

“Aww, thank you Lewis,” Cleo says with a bright smile, her cheeks flushing to a light pink in response to Lewis’ words. Lewis then moves into a lying position on the sand, and wriggles forward on his stomach to get closer to the edge of the moon pool, to get closer to Cleo. The mermaid swims closer to him as well. 

Lewis reaches out his hand caresses Cleo’s face for a few moments, as they stare lovingly into each other’s eyes, neither of them wanting this moment in the moon pool to end. Lewis then begins to lean forward, and Cleo lifts her head up more until their lips finally touch, and they close their eyes as they melt into the kiss.

Several seconds go by before Lewis and Cleo finally pull apart again and open their eyes, both grinning at each other.

“I never get tired of that.” Lewis comments happily.

“Neither do I,” Cleo agrees as she reaches out her hand and interlocks it with Lewis’, making his heart jump for joy a little. He knows it’s probably dumb for him to still get so excited over the most little things between him and Cleo, as they have been together for quite a while now (including before and after Charlotte), but Lewis is still in disbelief that Cleo loves him, even through his obliviousness to her feelings as well as his own. He really didn’t deserve Cleo, Lewis thinks to himself.

“It still would be awesome to know how and why this place turned us into mermaids so long ago now. What caused this place to become magical? Doubt we will ever know the answer to that though,” Cleo speaks up, breaking the peaceful silence and she looks around the volcano curiously.

“I would love to know that too, honestly. It would help understanding everything else so much easier. And maybe we could finally understand why the full moon effects you, and how you can learn to control it.” Lewis agrees as he sits up a little and brushed some of the sand off him. Cleo gives him a knowing and pointed look, quipping one of her eyebrows slightly.

“Lewis, I appreciate how much you care for us, but we will be okay. We’ve got each other’s backs, we sort of know what to expect by now. Maybe we will actually get lucky tomorrow night and none of us will get moonstruck? And besides, you don’t have to feel like it is your job to protect us from the moon. We should be responsible of taking care of ourselves during a full moon. And don’t let Rikki’s words get to you. After she left she said that she already regretted how unnecessarily harsh her words to you were.” Cleo tries to reassure her boyfriend, very aware of how much these past couple of years have taken a toll on him. Sure, he might not be the one with a tail, but it doesn’t mean that his life hasn’t been completely turned upside down too. Cleo thinks that Emma and Rikki sometimes forget that.

“I know that, Cleo. And I’m glad that you guys aren’t as scared of the full moons anymore. It’d be awful if you guys had to live the rest of your lives in complete fear of one particular night of each month of the year.” Lewis nods in acknowledgement, smiling appreciatively at his girlfriend.

“What have you guys got planned for tomorrow night?” Lewis asks out of curiosity.

“Oh, just a movie night at Emma’s house and we have the house to ourselves. Obviously gotta start moonproofing mid afternoon, just to be safe.” Cleo answers.

“And I’ve bought us all eyemasks to wear to bed, just to be extra safe. I doubt that it’ll make any difference, but maybe I just needed an excuse to buy eye masks.” Cleo grins, causing Lewis to chuckle in amusement.

“What about you, what are you going to do with yourself tomorrow night?” Cleo asks her boyfriend, tilting her head slightly in curiosity. She has always wondered what Lewis does on the nights of the full moon when he isn’t with her, Emma and Rikki. Cleo doesn’t know why she hasn’t asked before, really.

“Oh, uh, I hadn’t really thought about it.” Lewis shrugs nonchalantly. All of his options on what to do quickly run through his mind.

“Zane and Ash are both busy all of tomorrow. Zane is going dirt bike riding and also apparently forced to attend a family dinner with his dad, which basically just means a business meeting. As for Ash, he has a heap of riding lessons to teach tomorrow, along with endless stable chores. So I think I’ll just do something solo tomorrow night.” Lewis continues, the texts he got from Ash and Zane this morning flashing through his mind.

“I could always do some more research on this place. I’ve never done any tests in here during a full moon. I don’t know why I haven’t done it yet, as it could change everything.” Lewis suggests to himself out loud with a shrug. Cleo frowns.

“Are you sure that it’ll be a good idea, Lewis?” Cleo asks worriedly.

“It’ll be fine, Cleo, I know what I’m doing. I’ve done hundreds of experiments in here before. The moon is not going to change it that much, in my opinion. If we really want to try and learn everything, then I have look at all variables.” Lewis shrugs as his fingers swirl aimlessly around in the sand around him. Cleo still looks hesitant.

“Well... as long as you’re sure...” Cleo says, still not convinced it’s the best idea. Anything could happen to Lewis on Mako, and what if a moonstruck mermaid showed up? Cleo has certainly never forgotten that time when her, Emma and Rikki threw Lewis out of the volcano as well as gaining new powers themselves. Even though she can’t remember that night, the thought of it still haunts her every day.

“Of course I’m sure. And if one of you guys does end up here moonstruck, I’ll be here to help.” Lewis replies confidently, trying to reassure his girlfriend.

“Okay. Well, I gotta get going now, Lewis. I haven’t told my dad that I’m staying over at Emma’s this weekend yet. Hopefully he isn’t against it for whatever reason.” Cleo says.

“Alright. I’ll see you later then.” Lewis smiles before leaning down once more and giving his girlfriend a quick, but longing kiss. Cleo blushes a little as Lewis pulls away. She gives him a mischievous wave before diving back down underwater and swims out of the moon pool.


	3. The Mystery of Mako Island

“Oi, who ate the last strawberry?” Rikki demands as she looks down in disbelief at the plastic box that once held strawberries, is now empty.

“Guilty,” Ash says with a smirk, holding up his hands in surrender, swallowing the last piece of the strawberry in his mouth.

“Come on man, I totally called dibs on it.” Rikki groans in minor annoyance and disappointment.

“Sorry. I love strawberries too. I’ll buy you a punnet of strawberries to make it up to you.” Ash chuckles with a cheeky grin, and Rikki tries to keep an annoyed expression on her face, but it fails and she rolls her eyes instead while smiling.

“Fine, but it better be the best punnet of strawberries ever.” Rikki huffs before she throws a grape at her friend.

“Hey!” Ash exclaims as he dodges the grape, and it lands in the sand behind him.

“Sounds like you love strawberries more than me.” Zane comments as he slides an arm around Rikki’s shoulders, smiling lovingly at his girlfriend.

“Sorry to break it to you Zane, but yes. Yes I do. Strawberries don’t talk back, unlike you.” Rikki smirks and then quickly gives Zane a kiss, which Zane smiles into.

“Come on you guys, that’s gross. Go on a private picnic and do that stuff, the rest of us don’t need to see this.” Lewis groans.

“Wow. That’s rich of you, Lewis, considering you and Cleo were getting all lovey dovey the other day. Hell, you’re lovey dovey with each other basically always!” Rikki points out as she grabs another grape, actually eating it this time.

“It’s not my fault that Cleo is just the best thing to ever happen to this world,” Lewis replies with an honest shrug. Cleo, who’s sitting next to him, blushes a little at his comment, and smiles shyly.

“God, could you be any more cheesy? It makes me feel sick. What the hell does Cleo see in you?” Rikki gags, causing Lewis to laugh. They always manage to get under each other’s skin, in a way that’s different from the others attempting to. Lewis is glad that they have so much banter in their friendship. Others may confuse it with truly disliking each other, but it’s just the relationship Lewis and Rikki feel most comfortable with. Doesn’t mean they don’t truly anger each other at times, of course. Such as proven by earlier this week when Rikki got fed up when Lewis started talking about the full moon.

“Anyways, thank you organising this picnic for us, Em. All of the food was great, and it’s nice for all of us to be just hanging out again.” Cleo interjects quickly, not particularly interested in Lewis and Rikki continuing to fake bicker all afternoon.

“Not a problem. I thought we all needed to do something nice before the full moon tonight.” Emma replies happily, tucking a lock of her blonde hair behind her ears before taking a sip of her water from her drink bottle that is completely spill proof, of course.

“Not that anything bad is going to happen tonight,” Ash reassures his girlfriend comfortingly, taking her hand and squeezes it gently. Emma looks over to Ash and smiles at him appreciatively.

“Have you got enough tarp and duct tape to cover all the windows at your place tonight?” Lewis asks Emma, unable to keep his worry for the girls from resurfacing again.

“Lewis. We’ll be fine. We’ve got it handled.” Rikki answers for Emma, a little snappishly which causes Lewis to wince slightly.

“Right, yeah, I know. Got it. Sorry.” Lewis mumbles a reply. Cleo frowns at Rikki for a moment before looking to Lewis and grabs his hand reassuringly. Lewis looks up into Cleo’s caring brown eyes.

“We will be okay, Lewis. I will call you if anything goes wrong.” The mermaid reassures her boyfriend once again, appreciating how much he cares about her, Emma and even Rikki. Sure, he has made a few missteps in the past, but never intentionally.

“You gotta chill out a bit, mate. The girls have got this. You gotta trust them, they are the ones that actually have to deal with the moon and its consequences.” Zane comments, attempting to help, but he’s never been super great with emotional situations. With Rikki though, he’s slowly getting better, but he’s still pretty rough at it.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Lewis replies, a little deflated. As his friends change the subject of the conversation, Lewis pays no mind to it as he looks out towards the ocean, watching the waves crash into the shore. Looking out further to the horizon, he sees a little speck rising above the water in the very far difference, which Lewis assumes is Mako Island. That island has completely changed all of their lives, forever. Nothing makes sense about it, but as a man of logic and science, that infuriates Lewis to no end. He resolves that one day, he will crack the mysteries of Mako Island and the moon pool. He just has to, no question about it. He won’t let magic beat him so easily.

“-Lewis? Are you okay?” Cleo asks in concern, snapping him out of his thoughts. Lewis turns his gaze away from the ocean and back towards his friends. All of them have stopped their own conversations and are all staring at him now, including his girlfriend Cleo.

“Yeah! Sorry, just spaced out for a little bit.” Lewis apologises sheepishly. Ash checks his watch and winces at how much time has passed.

“I really hate to be that person, but I really gotta go. I have to teach a riding lesson in 45 minutes. I didn’t realise how long we have been out here.” Ash announces as he quickly starts to gather up his things.

“Yeah, we gotta get going too. Have to get the house set up for tonight, and it’s better to do it a little early instead of too late.” Emma adds as she also gathers her things and begins packing all of the picnic stuff up. Everyone else quickly move to help Emma pack up.

“Is it really already three o’clock?” Lewis wonders in surprise. He could have sworn they only got to the beach an hour ago, but apparently it has been three.

“Yup. I swear the days always go faster on full moons, yet the nights drag out forever.” Cleo sighs as she stands up and quickly brushes sand off herself, and then rolls up the picnic blanket.

“Well, guess I’m off to the motorbike track. I’m sure Nate is already wondering where I am.” Zane announces as he helps finish packing away the picnic stuff back into a bag and gathers all of his personal belongings. Once everyone has all of their stuff sorted, they get up and say their goodbyes, eventually just leaving Cleo and Lewis on the beach.

“Good luck for tonight, I hope it all goes smoothly.” Lewis tells the mermaid with a small smile, which Cleo returns.

“Thank you. Me too.” Cleo replies, and then takes Lewis’ hand in hers for a moment. She begins to frown in concern.

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright tonight, Lewis? You shouldn’t try and worry about us too much.” Cleo asks, biting her lip slightly.

“I’ll be fine, Cleo. I promise. I can handle one night to myself and my science to keep me occupied.” Lewis chuckles in response.

“Alright, well, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Cleo concedes and pulls Lewis in for a quick, but passionate kiss. Lewis quickly reciprocates and places his hands on the mermaid’s waist, pulling her close, enjoying every second of this. 

Unfortunately, the moment only lasts a few seconds before Cleo pulls away and starts walking back up the beach, giving Lewis a cute wave with a blindingly bright smile on her face. Lewis smiles as he watches Cleo continue to walk up the beach and up the small dunes before she eventually disappears from sight. Lewis sighs happily, knowing that he’s extremely grateful to have Cleo in his life. 

With that thought in mind, Lewis picks up his backpack and starts heading up the beach in the opposite direction to Cleo, and begins heading back towards his home.

~~~

A few hours later, just as the sun is setting, Lewis drags the last of his equipment onto his small tin fishing boat while puffing slightly. This stuff is heavy. Lewis sighs in relief as he places his last bag of equipment down in the back of the boat. Lewis then proceeds to move to untie his tin boat from the docks, before sitting down near the engine. He revs it to life, giving a satisfied roar. Lewis slowly pulls away from the docks and starts driving his boat towards Mako Island, excited about the prospect of making new discoveries.

30 minutes later, Lewis slows down his boat as he pulls up at Mako Island. Lewis cuts the engine before jumping out of his boat, landing in water up to his thighs. Lewis doesn’t really mind getting wet though. It’s only water; it’ll dry. Lewis walks around to the front of his tin boat and tugs it into shore. Lewis makes sure to push the boat far enough up the sand so that the tide can’t pull his boat back out to sea.

Once Lewis is certain that his boat is secure, he grabs the bags of equipment out of the boat, and slings them over his shoulders. Lewis internally groans a little, knowing it’s going to be a massive pain carrying this stuff to the moon pool, and an even bigger pain getting it out, but Lewis tries to remind himself that it should be worth it. He instructs himself to just think about all of the scientific discoveries he could make tonight, and have some progress with actually helping the girls.

“Well, here goes nothing. Let’s hope I don’t break my back,” Lewis mutters to himself as he begins the trek towards land entrance to the moon pool. Thankfully, there’s still a slight amount of sunset left, so he can continue walking through the jungle of Mako with some light. Of course, he has brought a torch as well, but at the moment Lewis really can’t be bothered to get that out of his backpack at the moment.

After about 15 minutes of walking through the wild terrain, Lewis finally arrives at the creek with the mound of rocks that will lead into the moon pool. He got here in just the nick of time too, as the sunlight has now almost completely gone.

Once Lewis has readjusted the bags on his shoulders, he starts carefully climbing up the rocks, a little nervous about slipping considering the weight he has on his back. Thankfully though, he reaches the hole in the rocks without any trouble. Lewis slides his bags of equipment off his shoulders, and pushes them down the cave entrance one at a time, waiting for the soft thud of the bags hitting the sand. The teenager then quickly slides down into the cave himself, landing just behind his bags.

After taking a moment recollect his thoughts and brush the dirt and sand off him, Lewis stands up and grabs his bags once more and makes his way around to the moon pool. Once Lewis arrives and drops his bags down, he can’t help but look around in wonder. No matter how many times he comes here, this place always fascinates him. 

Lewis opens up his bags and starts pulling all of his equipment out, and setting it into place. He then grabs his torch and turns it on, and walks around the moon pool, having a close look at the cave walls. ‘Could the walls of this volcano have something to do with all of this?’ Lewis thinks curiously to himself. 

Out of curiosity, Lewis reaches his hand out and runs his hand along the volcanic rock with fascination. It feels smooth and wet underneath his hand. He also swears that he can feel some sort of faint thrumming beneath his hand, almost as if the walls around him were alive with energy. 

With that uneasy realisation, Lewis quickly pulls his hand away from the walls and walks back over to his equipment. Lewis adjusts his weather monitor to make it more secure on the tripod, and fiddles with the settings to find the right ones. When satisfied, Lewis moves back over to the thermographic and uv light cameras standing on their own tripods and turns them on, wanting to see if there’s any sort of reaction before the moon even reaches the top of the volcano.

Next, Lewis grabs a bunch of vials out of his bag, as well as tweezers and a small spoon. He is going to need lots of samples from before and after the moon reaches its peak. Lewis is excited for the opportunity to study them tomorrow, wondering why he hadn’t thought of doing this before now. Lewis shrugs off the thought, resolving that it is better to do this late rather than never.

Lewis then takes a few of the vials as well as the tweezers and the spoon, and takes pieces of the sand, small rocks and other items from around the moon pool and the cave’s walls, putting them each into their own separate vials, capping them with pieces of cork. Once he’s collected all the samples he needs, he walks back over to his bag, grabs out a pen and small plain stickers. He places the stickers on each vial, and then writes on each vial respective to what Lewis wants to use them for. He then gently places the vials inside a plastic box and then into side pocket of the bag, so they won’t be crushed by his other equipment when he has to put it all away. 

As Lewis finishes zipping up the bag, he sits down on the ground, knowing there’s nothing really much more him to do right now other than wait. He grabs his laptop out from his bag and begins setting up excel sheets, as well as a word document in which he records his initial observations.


	4. One Moment Changes Everything

“Well, that should be everything. No moonlight can get to us in here.” Emma announces as she puts he final piece of duct tape over the tarp covering the kitchen window.

“Just in time, too. The moon should be rising about now,” Cleo responds as she looks down at her watch to check the time.

“Cool, can we just relax now?” Rikki asks in exasperation, a little bit tired of her overly cautious friends. Did they really need to put three layers of tarp and duct tape on every single window in the house? Rikki highly doubts it.

“Yup. Time for a movie marathon and binging on snacks all night.” Cleo grins, picking up the DVDs and snacks she brought and holds them up for Emma and Rikki to see.

“What do you girls feel like first? Horror, rom-com, or maybe action?” Cleo continues, looking between her two best friends.

“Horror. I’m in the mood for complaining about how dumb people are in horror movies and laugh at their inevitable demises.” Rikki smirks as she takes the DVDs from Cleo and walks towards the living room and flopping down onto the couch. Cleo and Emma follow closely behind Rikki, carrying the snacks.

After a few minutes, they settle on a horror movie and have poured all their snacks into bowls, and all three of them are settled onto the couch with blankets as the movie begins.

“I can’t believe we’re watching Jaws,” Rikki comments, shaking her head a little in disbelief at how she let her friends talk her into this.

“Well, it is the most realistic horror movie for us, after all. We can’t really avoid sharks underwater. Better than all of the ghost stuff,” Emma points out smugly, pretty chuffed with herself for defeating Rikki in the battle of what movie to watch. Emma is grateful that Cleo chose her side.

“Yeah, but this movie just looks so fake, the shark is so laughable. How can you even take it seriously?” Rikki exclaims as she munches on some popcorn.

“Well, to be honest, seeing how much you dislike it makes the movie much more enjoyable for me,” Emma smirks teasingly, causing Rikki to huff in defeat, leaning back into the sofa and crossing her arms.

“Well, so far good, let’s hope it stays this way the whole night. I really don’t want to deal with anyone being moonstruck tonight. I’d definitely prefer watching an obviously fake shark over that.” Cleo points out, knowing that the moon has definitely risen by now. She briefly wonders what Lewis is doing, and if he was serious about doing research at Mako tonight. Cleo kind of hopes that he decided against it, as Mako Island can be a dangerous place on a full moon, even to humans. Magic is unpredictable. ‘Come on Cleo, you know that Lewis can take care of himself,’ Cleo silently thinks to herself, knowing that it’s probably ridiculous to worry about Lewis tonight. If she needs to worry about anyone, it should be her, Emma and Rikki.

“Mm, I think it’s debatable.” Rikki shrugs nonchalantly.

“Alright then, go and stare at the moon if you really want. We won’t stop you.” Emma retorts, quipping an eyebrow as she does so, almost as if she’s challenging Rikki.

“I would, but I’m too lazy to get off the couch right now, and this popcorn is too good.” Rikki replies as she leans further back into the couch and hugs the popcorn bowl closer towards her body, causing both Emma and Cleo to chuckle in amusement.

“Hey, do you guys knows what happened to Charlotte? I haven’t seen her at school in ages,” Cleo frowns, a little worried that Lewis’ ex has gone blabbing their secret to the whole world already. Lewis has said that she promised that she would keep it a secret, but Charlotte lied about so much while with Lewis, Cleo finds it extremely difficult to take Charlotte’s words for it. Lewis has been manipulated by her many times. And of course, Lewis wouldn’t be in the same danger as her, Emma and Rikki would be if Charlotte was to expose them, and as much as he wants to understand what that would feel like, he just can’t. It’s just one of those things that you have to be going through yourself to even get close of an idea as to how it feels. Cleo hates the idea of having to look over shoulder for her entire life, always expecting to be caught.

As an indirect result of all of this, Cleo doesn’t tell him about the constant nightmares she has of being exposed as a mermaid again, and Doctor Denman comes back and experiments on and dissects her. It would just cause Lewis too much unnecessary worry, and he wouldn’t be able to quite understand the fear anyway.

“As far as I heard from gossip in maths class, she and her mum moved to Sydney. wanted a fresh new start apparently. And good riddance. I don’t care if she’s not a mermaid and can’t hurt us anymore, I still would have wanted to have boiled her insides into a soup. You guys would probably have to hold me back to prevent me in actually doing so.” Rikki responds, her nose wrinkling in disgust at the mere mention of that wretched girl that almost destroyed all of their lives and intentionally broke Cleo’s heart. Rikki thinks Charlotte got off way too easy. She just hopes that Charlotte doesn’t try any more horrible stunts to other people in the future.

“As long as she keeps our secret, I don’t care what she’s doing.” Emma adds, scowling as she remembers how Charlotte had trapped her and Cleo in the storage room of Charlotte’s house on Lewis’ birthday.

“Mm, I reckon she would have blabbed as soon as she got the chance.” Rikki scoffs, while keeping her eyes on the screen, watching the opening science of Jaws.

“Well, considering no crazy scientists have come knocking on our doors, I don’t think she has told anyone about us. Not yet, at least.” Emma says, trying to think logically and calmly about the whole Charlotte situation.

“I for one am very glad Charlotte’s gone. She was nothing but trouble. I told you that when we found her diary, Em! But you didn’t listen to me.” Cleo replies a little indignantly. 

“Well, you didn’t really have any proof at the time, and you were mainly suspicious of her because you were jealous that she was getting close to Lewis. But of course in hindsight, you were right to be suspicious of Charlotte.” Emma points out while Cleo huffs and rolls her eyes in annoyance.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I thought we were supposed to be watching Jaws?” Cleo grumbles, folding her arms over her chest, 100% done with the conversation of Charlotte.

“I still hate the fake shark,” Rikki comments, shaking her head in disappointment.

“The fake shark is still better than Charlotte.” Emma points out bluntly and honestly. There’s a moment of silence before all three girls suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter, realising how true Emma’s statement was.

~~~

A few hours pass by slowly, and Lewis is still sitting by the moon pool, waiting for the moon to rise above the volcano. Lewis shifts uncomfortably on the ground, his spine aching from sitting in the same slouched position for hours now. 

Lewis sighs, starting to wonder if any of this was even worth it. He’s tired, uncomfortable, in pain, and hungry. Lewis is also pretty sure one of his legs have fallen asleep.

The worst of it all though is that most likely, Lewis won’t even find any answers or leads. The magic that happens in the moon pool tonight probably will leave no trace of anything noteworthy in the samples for Lewis to study tomorrow. Ms Chatham has always told him that magic and science don’t mix, and while Lewis accepts that to some degree, he also can’t just give up on trying to find answers either. Both for his own curiosity as a scientist, and because he feels like he owes it Cleo, Emma and Rikki. If there’s a way he can make their lives easier, or at least figure out why their lives changed forever, he has to find it.

Lewis yawns and stretches out his limbs, wincing as his left leg feels like pins and needles. He realises that the last few weeks have taken a toll on him; keeping him up all hours of the night to finish school work and helping the mermaids, all the while keeping everything about Cleo, Emma and Rikki a secret from his family. It definitely hasn’t been easy. With four older brothers and his mum, it’s extremely difficult to have secrets in their house. 

Lewis is somewhat surprised that his older brother Daniel hasn’t snooped on his computer and found his mermaid research yet. Of course, Lewis has made it near impossible to access for anyone but him, but Daniel is a tech whiz, possibly even better than Lewis himself. There’s a reason why Daniel works in IT. Lewis knows that if he wanted to, Daniel would be able to find out everything that Lewis has been hiding, which is quite a terrifying thought actually. He could try and brush it off as him creating ideas for a novel he wants to write, but he doubts Daniel would believe him.

Lewis is suddenly snapped out of his rambling thoughts by a loud bubbling noise. Lewis quickly looks up and watches as the moon pool starts to bubble and glow while some sort of sparkles float out of the pool and up towards the sky. Lewis glances up even further and sees the full moon slowly starting to rise above the volcano. Smiling in excitement, Lewis gets to work.

The teenage scientist hurries around the cave as fast as he can, gathering all sorts of rock and sand samples, and checking on the cameras that he had set up. Soon, the only thing left that he needs to collect is the water from the glowing and fizzing moon pool, lifting sparkles and golden bubbles up into the air. Knowing he hasn’t got much time, Lewis rushes back to his bag, fumbling a little as he pulls out an empty vial. The young scientist then shuffles forwards towards the moon pool.

Being careful not to fall in, Lewis reaches his arm out across the pool, wanting to get a sample of the glowing water in the center of the pool, suspecting that water will be the best chance of giving him any sort of answers. By this point, the full moon is directly above the moon pool, and the water seems to glow even brighter than ever.

Just as Lewis reaches the vial down into the water, it slips out of his grasp and floats on top of the water. Lewis curses to himself under his breath. Of course he would be that clumsy when being precise matters most. Lewis sighs, moves into a lying down position and reaches his hand out further, trying to get the vial back. After a few moments of struggling and noises of annoyance, Lewis finally manages to grab the vial, much to his relief. Lewis is so distracted by actually managing to get the vial back, he doesn’t notice as his hand slips under the glowing, bubbling water almost instantly after he grabbed the vial.


	5. Fear and Confusion

Lewis hurriedly collects the water sample that he has spent so much effort trying to get, and finally pulls his arm back towards him, and away from the moon pool. Lewis wriggles backwards so that he has enough room to sit back up again. As he sits up once more, vial in hand, Lewis sees the full moon pass over the the volcano, everything going dark. The moon pool stops fizzing, glowing and sparkling almost instantly. And just like that, the magical phenomenon is over, the moon taking it away just as quickly as it gave the magic.

Lewis can’t help but let out a small laugh, still buzzing with excitement and thrill from the past couple of minutes. The whole cave felt alive, and Lewis could swear he could hear the hum of energy radiating through the air. As always, watching the moon pool bubble and sparkle was a thrilling experience, representing so many mysteries Lewis has yet to solve.

Unfortunately, that excitement suddenly fades as Lewis finally notices that his hand is wet, water droplets clinging to his skin. Lewis looks down at his hand clasping the vial in horror. ‘No, no, no, this can’t be happening!’ Lewis panics internally, his breath hitching in his throat. Not knowing what else to do in this moment, Lewis shakily puts the cork into the vial, making sure it’s air tight and won’t allow any spillage. Slowly, Lewis places the vial into the plastic box along with the other vials.

Feeling numb and in shock, while hardly able to process what this could mean for him, Lewis starts hurriedly beginning to pack up all of his equipment. His mind needs a distraction from his hand. He just does not want to deal with that right at this minute. Never having to deal with it would be preferred, but right now, he’s happy to just settle with the next hour.

“Just breathe, Lewis. Breathe.” Lewis reminds himself quietly as continues to pack away his equipment. It is taking longer than usual as his hands are unbelievably shaky whilst his heart races furiously in his chest. A horrible feeling settles in the teenager’s stomach and he thinks that he might throw up. Lewis really tries to concentrate on his breathing to calm him down enough to at least pack up his gear and get the hell away from Mako Island. He needs to go home and think. 

Besides, staying at Mako any longer is probably a terrible idea anyway. What if Cleo, Emma, or Rikki come speeding into the moon pool at any moment? They seemed so sure that they had tonight covered, but what if something went wrong? What if they’re moonstruck? What if they weren’t moonstruck? What would actually be worse? How would he even be able to explain what happened, when he hasn’t even come to terms with it himself, or even confirmed his fears? There are too many questions swirling around in Lewis’ mind, giving him a headache and feel a little nauseous.

‘There’s no way that could have done anything too me... I only had my hand in the water for a second or two. Surely not enough time to have an effect on me... right?’ Lewis worries silently, not really sure what to make of all that’s just happened. If only he didn’t let that damn vial slip from his fingers! Ugh. What a nightmare this has turned into.

Finally, after 10 panicky minutes that felt like an eternity, Lewis has got all of his equipment packed away safely in his bags. He quickly hoists them onto his shoulders and glances over towards the moon pool one more time with an intense glare. Lewis then turns around and begins to hurry out of the cave, wanting to get off Mako Island as soon as possible.

~~~

Emma wakes up to her alarm going off by her bed. The mermaid slowly opens her eyes blearily, yawning as she does so. Emma slowly sits up and reaches over to the alarm clock and presses the off button, and the high pitched din thankfully stops. As she rubs the remaining sleep out of her eyes, Emma looks down to the floor on the left side of her bed, where Cleo and Rikki are both lying in their sleeping bags, sound asleep.

Wow. The three of them had survived the entire night without any of them getting moonstruck. That’s hardly ever happened before. Emma is relieved that no one got moonstruck last night, and that nothing terrible happened, but she can’t help but note that the only time that none of them got effected by the moonlight was on the month that Charlotte became a mermaid. Emma still isn’t sure if that was a coincidence or not, but since Charlotte can’t ever become a mermaid again, Emma isn’t really worried about Charlotte. 

Yet, she can’t help the feeling that something did actually happen last night from her mind. She knows it’s ridiculous, as she and her friends have been inside the whole night, and Emma can actually remember everything. Which is definitely a nice change. 

“Guys, wake up. We did it. None of us got moonstruck last night.” Emma speaks as she watches Cleo and Rikki begin to stir.

“Damn... really?” Rikki asks in surprise as she sits up, opens her eyes and tries to fix her messy hair. Cleo turns over in her sleeping bag, trying to get more comfortable, but she has her eyes open now as well.

“Doesn’t it seem weird though? Usually at least one of us sees the moonlight,” Emma asks, curious as to what her friends think.

“I’m pretty alright with not becoming a creepy zombie for the night and having no memory of it,” Riki says. 

“Yeah, I know...” Emma sighs.

“I’m so looking forward to telling Lewis that we all managed the full moon completely on our own, without his help. I’m sure his reaction will be absolutely entertaining.” Rikki grins mischievously while feeling smug.

Cleo frowns as she thinks about Lewis again. She has been worried about him for a while now, as he looks more and more exhausted every day. Cleo feels guilty, knowing that the reason why Lewis is so stressed and tired is because of the three mermaids. Lewis tries so hard to keep them safe, even though sometimes it doesn’t go exactly the way he hopes, like Doctor Denman. Still, Lewis has been such a great help to her, Emma and Rikki. If they didn’t have Lewis, Cleo knows that they would have been captured and experimented on by now. 

However, Cleo knows how much all of the secrets are taking a toll on Lewis. His relationship with his family has definitely taken a hit ever since all of this began. Of course, Cleo has been dealing with the same thing with her dad, but at least it’s because it is her secret that she has to keep safe. Lewis on the other hand, is just trying to protect the three girls. When Lewis was with Charlotte, that’s when Cleo knew that the secrets were becoming overwhelming for Lewis. Even though she hated Charlotte, at the time Cleo felt bad that she, Emma and Rikki were the reason that Lewis and Charlotte’s relationship was becoming rocky. 

Cleo sighs quietly, almost wishing that Lewis didn’t know about the three girls being mermaids. Yes, it might make things more difficult for the three of them, but at least Lewis wouldn’t be so on edge and exhausted all of the time. It’s not fair that he had to be dragged into their mess.

“Cleo? Are you okay?” Emma asks, interrupting Cleo’s spiralling thoughts. Cleo sits up and sees both of her friends staring at her with concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just zoned out for a minute.” Cleo quickly responds, not feeling the need to bother her friends with her rambling thoughts about Lewis.

“Anyway, as I was saying Em, you need to chill out a little. Charlotte can’t get her powers back, and no one else knows about Mako Island, except for our boyfriends who would keep it safe for us. We should be grateful that nothing happened to any one of us last night. Hopefully the next one will be the same story.” Rikki says, looking back up to the blonde haired girl sitting up in the bed.

“True,” Emma relents, starting to feel better about the situation. Rikki is right, nothing would have happened out at Mako last night, especially since Cleo said that Lewis was running some tests there. Plus, none of them got moonstruck, which is a huge achievement considering their past, and it should be celebrated.

“Anyway, who wants breakfast?” Emma continues as she quickly jumps out of bed.

“Yeah, I’m starving. Do you have any pancakes? Not those gluten free pancakes or the pancakes with dehydrated fruit, those are disgusting.” Rikki asks hopefully, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the memory of the dehydrated banana pancakes that Emma had made the last time the three of them were at her house for a sleepover. Emma rolls her eyes at Rikki’s comment.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

~~~

Meanwhile, Lewis is currently laying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling while his heart continues to race in his chest. He didn’t get any sleep last night, no matter how much he tried. All he could think about was his hand covered in the moon pool’s water after it went underwater for literally only a second or two. There’s no way that means anything. It was just his hand, and was only in there for two seconds at the most. Lewis is just overreacting. So why is he still struggling to keep his breathing under control while a horrible feeling continues to sit in his stomach?

Lewis sighs and rolls onto his side, feeling exhausted. It would have definitely helped if he could have gotten even just a small amount of sleep last night, but alas, sleep evaded him and instead he had to lie there with his worrying and frantic thoughts.

Suddenly, Lewis heard a knock his door, making him jump in surprise. He sits up a little, propping himself up with his arms just as his bedroom door opens and his mother walks in.

“Good morning, Lewis,” Kelly McCartney says with a smile.

“Morning, Mum.” Lewis replies with a yawn and stretches a little bit, wanting to at least pretend that he got some amount of sleep last night. Lewis then takes a quick note of his mother’s appearance. She’s dressed up in her nurse’s uniform. 

“Going into work early this morning?” Lewis asks curiously.

“Unfortunately, yes. Sarah is sick, so I’m covering her shift. If there aren’t any major emergencies, I should be home by seven tonight. I’ve given your brother, Daniel, some money for you boys to order pizza for yourselves tonight.” Lewis’ mother sighs defeatedly, not enjoying the days that she has to work in the emergency department, especially on a Saturday. It can be incredibly stressful.

“Alright, I’ll see you tonight then.” Lewis replies, still trying to somehow hide the bags under his eyes from his lack of sleep.

“Have a good day, honey. Maybe take some time off from your schoolwork, you look like you pulled an all nighter.” Kelly says, gazing at her son’s messy hair, his tired eyes and then to the floor where he tossed his clothes from the night before, along with a heap of random papers littering the room. Usually, Lewis is a very tidy and organised person, so Kelly figures that school is starting to stress him out. He is in his final year, after all.

“Oh, uh... y-yeah, I’ll do that...” Lewis stammers, trying to hide his nerves, hoping that his mother won’t pry into Lewis’ strange behaviour and lack of sleep.

“Anyway. I gotta go. I love you, hun.” Kelly says as she turns to leave her son’s room.

“I love you too, Mum.” Lewis smiles and watches his mum leaves the room and closes the door behind her. Once the door is closed, Lewis flops back down onto his bed, letting out a relieved sigh. He needs to figure out exactly what the hell happened last night, but he certainly can’t do that with his mum and brothers around.


	6. Denial

After a few more minutes of lying in bed, still attempting to try and fall asleep for even just a little bit, but to no avail, Lewis finally pulls his covers back and gets out of bed. He checks his phone and sees that it is 7am. Lewis brushes a hand through his hair, to try and tame it at least a little bit and to keep it out of his eyes. He walks over to his desk, where his laptop is sitting. Lewis opens his laptop and logs on and opens up his excel document of the initial findings he got from last night, checking them over. The scientist sits down in his desk chair and scans through his results, to determine how many and what kind of tests he will need to perform today. He decides that testing the pH levels of everything would probably be a good place to start.

Lewis glances over his shoulder towards his bags, which still hold his equipment and vials. He bites his lip as he tries to decide what to do. In some ways, Lewis wants to get started on the research straight away so he can be done sooner. On the other hand, he also doesn’t feel like dealing with it right now, as it only brings back the sickening feeling that the moon pool might have done something to him last night. What that something may be, Lewis honestly doesn’t know. He only had his hand in the moon pool, and he’s also not a girl. ‘Lewis, you’re being ridiculous. Nothing happened.’ Lewis scolds himself internally.

The blond teen stands up from his desk and walks over to his bag, opens it up and pulls out the plastic box full of vials with the samples he collected. Lewis also grabs his thermographic camera along with his UV camera, wanting to look over the footage they captured, and hopefully they’ll give him something to report on. He carries them over to his desk and places them down gently. He sits down again and inspects each vial one by one. The samples that particularly interest Lewis are the two water samples. Of course, those are the ones that are causing Lewis to stress out. ‘Over nothing,’ Lewis firmly reminds himself.

From initial observation, the water in each vial doesn’t look any different. However, both vials of water seem to have a slight tint of blue colour to it. Lewis decides to check this theory, taking the two vials with him to the kitchen. Thankfully, none of his brothers seem to have gotten out of bed yet. Lenny and Daniel have a day off work while the twins, Zac and Jacob have only recently gotten back from their Europe trip and are still jet lagged and trying to get used to Queensland’s time zone again.

Lewis walks over to the sink, and places the two vials down next to it. Lewis stares at the sink for a few moments, his heart beginning to race and fear creeps into his mind. Almost instinctively, Lewis takes a step back from the sink, not even sure why he took a step backwards.

“Calm down, Lewis! The tap isn’t even turned on yet.” Lewis says as he shakes his head, trying to get rid of his unreasonable nerves and fear. Before anything else, Lewis walks over to the cupboard and grabs a glass and heads back towards the sink. With a shaking hand, Lewis places the glass into the sink, and his focus is back on the tap again. Everything inside of him just wants to run around and rush back to his room, but the rational part of his mind manages to keep himself staying put.

Taking a deep breath, Lewis shakily reaches out his hand and quickly turns on the tap before yanking back his hand as fast as possible. Lewis waits a few seconds before he turns off the water again, and his nerves start to fade a little as curiosity takes over. He grabs the two vials, examining the slightly blueish tint of water again. After a couple seconds, Lewis glances back down to the glass in the sink, observing how the water in the glass is crystal clear, no tint of blue in sight. At least it means Lewis isn’t imagining things, and he’s right that the moon pool water is different from normal water. All Lewis has to do now is to figure out the difference between normal water, moon pool water and moon pool water under the full moon. Lewis is sure that there has to be different results between the three types of water.

Lewis realises he needs a sample of regular water as well, if he wants his experiments to be completely accurate. That thought terrifies him though, it would be so easy to get splashed, and he is not sure if he should risk it. Again, Lewis knows it is a completely irrational thought, but it’s just something he just can’t shake. 

With a sigh, Lewis grabs the two vials and heads back upstairs and back into his bedroom again. Lewis slumps down at his desk, placing the vials back in place next to the other vials lying on the desk. Lewis stares at his computer screen, wishing that the results and observations could just write themselves. After another 15 or so minutes of recording initial data and planning out future experiments on the samples as well as downloading camera footage onto his computer, Lewis decides to give his research a break for a while. His mind feels like has been tossed through a blender; a mixture of confusion, curiosity, fear and frustration all bubbling and swirling around inside him. A throbbing headache ensues, which is Lewis’ last straw. 

He quickly closes his excel files and word documents, saving them before he does so. Lewis then turns off the laptop and shuts the lid. Next, the teenager grabs all of the vials, plus the two cameras, and places them all carefully into his desk drawer. He makes sure to close the drawer and lock it. Lewis definitely can’t risk having his family finding any of this. They would either think he’s crazy and/or making all of this up, or his three friends would end up in a display tank somewhere. Lewis shudders violently at just the thought. It constantly plagues his dreams, turning them into nightmares. He’s had these nightmares for probably half a year now, around the time he started dating Charlotte actually.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the negative thoughts, Lewis gets up from his desk and makes his way downstairs again, to make himself some well needed breakfast. Maybe it’ll help calm down his racing and aching mind, and give him some clarity on what his next moves should be.

~~~

A couple hours later, Lewis ends up at his secret fishing spot, sitting up on the rocks, pulling his knees to his chest as he stares out at the ocean. Coming down to this spot at the beach was definitely the right call. He feels at peace here, and his fears, anxieties and a million whirling thoughts seem to just melt away. Lewis wishes that he brought his fishing stuff with him, as that would just be the icing on the cake.

Lewis closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, inhaling the salty sea breeze and feeling the wind rush past his face, sending his hair flying upwards. He keeps his eyes closed for a few more moments as he listens to the waves crashing into the shore. Lewis sighs happily, feeling more relaxed than he has in at least a few weeks. Lewis just wishes that he could pause this moment in time and stay forever. If he had Cleo with him, of course. As his thoughts drift back to Cleo, he opens his eyes once more and continues staring out into the sea.

Cleo, the girl that he is absolutely in love with and has been in love with her since kindergarten, will know that something is up with Lewis pretty quickly. She can read Lewis better than anyone, sometimes even better than himself. Lewis knows that he should talk to Cleo and the others about the concerns that he has, and what happened on Mako last night, but at the same time, Lewis doesn’t feel quite ready to face it yet. And besides, he doesn’t know anything for sure yet anyway. No point in saying anything unless he’s sure. He doesn’t want anyone to unnecessarily worry about him. The girls have enough to deal with as it is. Lewis can’t put this extra pressure on them, without even knowing anything for sure yet.

Suddenly, Lewis hears his phone ringing from his shorts pocket, causing him to jump in surprise and to snap out of his thoughts. The blond teenager fumbles around with his pocket as he grapples to get his phone and put it up to his ear.

“Hello?” Lewis answers as he presses the accept button on his phone, and then places the device to his ear.

“Hey, Lewis, how are you?” Cleo’s voice replies back to him, and Lewis is kind of amazed at how convenient that timing was. Or rather, inconvenient to be honest.

“Oh, hi Cleo, I’m alright, thanks. Just the same old stuff. How did the full moon go for you guys? Did anything happen?” Lewis quickly turns the subject away from him.

“Surprisingly, no. Everything was fine. Just watched a bunch of movies. I think we are all just shocked that nothing bad happened, you know? We always have to prepare for the worst, but our preparations actually prevented the moon’s spell this time? Even though it’s weird that nothing happened on a full moon since basically before we became mermaids, it definitely feels good. I wish we could get that lucky every month,” Cleo answers, rambling slightly, a habit that she has picked up from Lewis. The scientist smiles a little at that thought.

“Anyway, I was just checking if you were still coming to lunch with Emma, Rikki and me. I’m really looking forward to trying out that new cafe down the road from the marine park.” Cleo adds hopefully, looking forward to hanging out with Lewis this afternoon. Ever since the whole Charlotte incident, Cleo and Lewis have been almost inseparable, to the point it annoys Emma and Rikki, which just amuses Cleo and Lewis.

“Oh, uh... I don’t think I’ll be able to make it today actually. Sorry, it’s just that something has come up that I have to take care of. Perhaps another day?” Lewis says nervously, hoping that Cleo doesn’t press too much further into the issue.

“Wait, what? Is everything okay, Lewis? What happened? Can I help?” Lewis can practically see the worry written all over his girlfriend’s face just by hearing her say those words.

“Yeah, everything is fine, it’s just... family stuff, I guess. Plus, I have a bunch of homework to catch up on, as I have fallen a little behind lately. You don’t have to worry about me though, Cleo. I can deal with it.” Lewis tries to reassure his girlfriend, attempting to hide the nervousness that is settling back inside of his stomach.

“Are you sure?” Cleo asks uncertainly, unable to shake the feeling that Lewis might not be as okay as he is trying to portray.

“Did something happen at Mako last night? Did you end up going there for your research?” Cleo questions further, everything suddenly beginning to click in her mind. If Lewis was hurt in any way or put in danger on Mako Island at all, Cleo wants to know about it so she can try and protect Lewis more from now on. She knew she shouldn’t have let Lewis go to Mako by himself, and is kicking herself for it now. What if he had tripped and fallen down the rocks and broke his leg or something, lying on the ground all alone in the dark? Cleo shudders at the thought.

“What? No, no I didn’t end up going there actually. I just stayed at home and did some homework and watched a couple of movies. I wanted to stay close, in case you guys needed me.” Lewis hurriedly lies, hoping that his voice doesn’t reveal how blatantly untrue everything he has been saying is.

“Oh... well, uh... okay then, I guess. I’ll talk to you later then?” Cleo replies questioningly, feeling very confused as she runs a hand through her hair while pacing in Emma’s bedroom. Thankfully Emma and Rikki are already downstairs and taking off all the tarp and duct tape off all the windows in the Gilbert house.

“Yeah, talk soon. I gotta go now. I love you, bye,” Lewis says and hangs up the phone before Cleo can even respond. Lewis sighs heavily and puts his face in his hands after he puts his phone back in his pocket. The short lived good mood that he was in before the phone call is absolutely gone now. Lewis absolutely hates lying to Cleo, especially as blatantly as that. It feels like someone is pouring acid into Lewis’ throat, making its way slowly to his heart. The two of them tell each other everything, and it has been that way since kindergarten. 

Lewis continues to sit up on the rocks for another half an hour, head still resting in his hands as he tries to think through everything rationally while the salty ocean breeze tugs gently at his messy blond hair. Before Lewis can even think about telling the girls what happened at Mako last night, he needs to actually test whether or not his theory is right in the first place. As much as he wants to avoid the subject, Lewis knows it has to be done. It is inevitable. Besides, it’s probably going to show that the moon pool water did nothing to him, so there’s nothing for Lewis to be worried about... right?


	7. Everything is Fine

“Well, that was weird...” Cleo frowns as she hurries down the last few stairs and makes her way over to where Emma and Rikki are lounging on the large sofa. The two blondes look up at their friend in concern and confusion.

“What was weird?” Emma asks, sitting up a little bit and making room for Cleo to join them on the couch. 

“I was just on the phone with Lewis. He was acting kind of strange,” Cleo admits as she slumps down onto the couch between Emma and Rikki.

“Uh, news flash, Lewis is always weird. What’s the big deal?” Rikki asks with a roll of her eyes. Cleo and Emma read too much into little things all the time, and end up getting worked up over nothing. Rikki wishes that she could teach her friends to just chill out a bit, but she doubts that will ever happen. It’s just in their personalities to worry. Luckily, they have Rikki there to balance the unnecessary worry and dismissing a lot better.

“Yeah, but not this weird...” Cleo sighs, shaking her head a little. She bites her lip nervously as she runs over her conversation with Lewis in her mind again.

“What happened?” Emma asks consolingly, placing a hand on Cleo’s shoulder, hoping whatever the problem is, it isn’t too serious. However, given how their lives are completely unpredictable now, she isn’t getting her hopes up too much.

“I mean, our conversation started off normal; I was telling him about how last night went. But when I brought up lunch today and the studies he wanted to do on the moon pool, he started to freak out, said he couldn’t make it to lunch with us, and quickly hung up one me.” Cleo explains, hoping her friends can help give her some clarity on the issue.

“I don’t know, Cleo, it doesn’t sound that sketchy to me. Lewis can be quite frantic when his mind is all over the place as he’s on the brink of a new discovery or the unknown. Also, I think Rikki’s comments earlier this week really got to him more than we originally thought, and that’s probably what this is all about.” Emma shrugs, not seeing any major red flags in Cleo’s story, but still thinks that they all need to check up on Lewis soon just in case. Even to Emma, it has been pretty clear Lewis has been looking more worn out lately, and he still beats himself up over Charlotte. Cleo has even told Emma that Lewis has nightmares about Doctor Denman, and waking up in complete panic and fear.

“Look, if anything was truly wrong Cleo, Lewis would tell you.” Rikki tried to reassure the worried brunette, while also feeling slightly guilty herself. Maybe Lewis has been acting weird lately because of Rikki’s small outburst of frustration earlier in the week, and even though Rikki still stands by what she said, she realises she didn’t have to say it so brashly. She decides that she will need to Lewis sometime soon, so they can clear the air a little bit.

“But he said he was dealing with family problems... what if it’s really bad?” Cleo continues to fret, biting her nails anxiously.

“He probably just had an argument with his brothers, I doubt it’s anything serious. Lewis isn’t exactly an aggressive or confrontational guy. I still can’t believe that Lewis lives with four older brothers, that would be enough to drive me up the walls.” Rikki reasons, trying to be more rational about all of his.

“Yeah, one sister is already too much for me. I can’t imagine how Lewis feels,” Cleo replies with a small laugh, feeling a little bit better as she talks with Emma and Rikki. Neither of them seem too concerned about what Cleo has been saying, which helps ease her worries a little bit. Cleo is probably overreacting. If something was truly wrong, Lewis would tell her... right? Maybe he really was just behind in his schoolwork and he’s had some arguments with his brothers lately. Lewis has been so busy trying to help out Cleo, Emma and Rikki lately, especially after they developed new powers a few months ago, that he has been neglecting his schoolwork a bit. Cleo just wishes she could do something to help him, and also feels guilty that she might be the reason Lewis is struggling in school, when he has never struggled before.

“Exactly. You need to just chill out a bit, Cleo. And if something was seriously wrong, give him some time. Lewis loves you, and he wouldn’t want to keep secrets from you. All you can do right now is reassure Lewis that you’re there for him.” Rikki says with an air of finality, and Emma nods in agreement.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. If it was something serious, I’m sure he would tell me. He knows that I’m always here for him, just like has always been here for me. Thanks, guys, I definitely feel a bit better now.” Cleo smiles appreciatively at her two friends.

“Right, so even though Lewis isn’t coming to luck with us, it doesn’t mean that the three of us can’t go. Who’s with me?” Rikki announces as she jumps up from the sofa, a grin on her face.

~~~ 

Meanwhile, Lewis has made his way home, and is currently sitting on his bed, contemplating what to do. He poured himself a glass of water back down in the kitchen, and the glass is now sitting on his desk, and Lewis swears that the glass is mocking him somehow. Lewis fidgets with his hands nervously, and his legs bounce uncontrollably. 

Lewis knows what he has to do, but he’s terrified of what might happen. At least with staying in the unknown, he could still exist as a human. It’s just like Schrödinger’s cat in a box theory, where there exists two universes where the cat is either alive or dead, until you open that box. Lewis thinks it suits his situation perfectly right now. Lewis chews on his lip, continuing to stare at the glass of water in front of him for a few more minutes, trying to calm his heart rate down a little, and focusing on taking deep breaths.

“Come on, Lewis. It’s nothing. It’s just a little bit of water. Nothing is going to happen.” Lewis quietly reminds himself under his breath. With that in mind, Lewis stands up from his bed, walks over to his door and makes sure that it is locked. If anything were to happen, even though the chances of that are tiny, Lewis certainly cannot have his family walking in on him. That would be an absolute disaster on so many levels.

Once Lewis has double and triple checked the lock on his door, Lewis hesitantly makes his way towards his desk, staring down the glass of water as if it were his arch enemy. For another minute or so, Lewis continues to stare at the glass fearfully. The teenager can’t help but feel stupidly pathetic. He knows that he would certainly look pathetic to anyone if they were watching him right now.

“Well, here goes nothing, I guess...” Lewis sighs as he forces himself to reach his hand forward and grab the glass from his desk. Lewis shakily pulls the glass of water back to him, where he stares at it with wide and fearful eyes. Not wanting to draw this out any longer, because if he does, Lewis knows that he will chicken out, he hurriedly tips the glass upside down and let’s the water fall onto his bare feet. He gasps slightly at the cold touch of the water against his skin while placing the glass back onto the desk. Lewis then begins the dreaded countdown.

10...9...8... nothing is happening yet, apart from Lewis feeling sick to his stomach.

7...6...5... again, nothing has happened so far. Lewis decides to walk back over to his bed, not wanting to fall face first into the ground, if he does change. Which Lewis adamantly tries to tell himself it won’t happen.

4...3...2... oh god, this is the moment of truth for Lewis, isn’t it? Maybe spilling water on himself wasn’t a good idea. He should’ve just allowed himself to live in the unknown for a couple more days at least!

And finally, after what feels like an eternity, Lewis’ countdown reaches 1... and yet again, nothing appears to happen. Lewis breathes a sigh of relief, realising he was fretting over nothing this entire time. Lewis laughs a little, feeling ridiculous at the fact that he really thought that he was going to be a... wait. What’s the tingling sensation in his legs?

Lewis doesn’t even have any time to panic before his entire body becomes water for a second, and Lewis can’t help but yelp in fright. When his body reforms, Lewis is shocked and horrified to see that instead of his legs, lies a large, glimmering blue and silver scaly fish tail hanging off the end of his bed. The teenager is definitely thankful that he decided to sit back on his bed before the countdown was up, as landing horribly on the floor face first would make this whole thing even worse. Lewis stares down at his body in complete horror, unable to comprehend what he is seeing right now. Lewis flicks his new tail tentatively, and freaks out as he watches it move. 

The tail itself isn’t a shock to Lewis; he has seen the girls’ tails many times before. The issue is that the tail is a part of him. The muscles causing the tail to move are his. There is not a single trace on him suggesting that he has ever had legs before.

“This can’t be happening...” Lewis whispers shakily to himself while his glimmering blue and silver tail continues to dangle limply off the end of his bed, a sickening feeling settling into his stomach as he realises that his life has completely changed forever. He’s not even fully human anymore. All because his stupid hand slipped into the moon pool water while he was collecting a sample. What an idiotic idea it was to go to Mako that night. Lewis wants to kick himself for it... if he even had legs! 

Lewis slowly reaches a trembling hand out, and he places it on the area of his torso where his skin meets scales. It is the strangest thing that he has ever seen and definitely the strangest thing that he has ever experienced. He then places his hand fully on his new tail, and is shocked at how smooth the scales are and how strong his tail feels underneath his hand. Lewis was also totally expecting the scales to be somewhat slimy to touch, but surprisingly they are not. Another thing that Lewis notes as an extremely weird experience is that he can feel his hand on his tail, just as he would as if his hand was on his leg. That feeling makes this is all too sickeningly real for Lewis.

As he continues to thoroughly examine his tail whilst giving it another experimental flick, Lewis can totally understand now why the girls’ tails can speed them through the water like torpedoes. Lewis vaguely wonders to himself how fast he can go underwater, now that he has a tail of his own, and whether he could be just as fast as Emma, Cleo and Rikki. Hastily, Lewis pushes those thoughts to the back of his mind and instead focuses on the issues and worries at hand.

“This has to be a dream...” Lewis mutters to himself, shaking his head in disbelief. Lewis blinks once. Then twice. The fish tail is still there, much to Lewis’ disappointment. How the hell is he going to deal with this? Oh god, does this mean he’ll go all moon crazy on full moons now?! Why oh why did Lewis have to go to that stupid island?! Suddenly, a loud knock on the door snaps Lewis out of his own self pitying and panicking thoughts.


	8. Lenny McCartney

“Lewis! Are you okay in there? I thought a heard a yell.” Lewis hears his older brother, Lenny, call out from the other side. Lewis freezes, eyes widen open, panic immediately seizing him. Whatever he does, Lewis can’t let Lenny see him like this! Thank god Lewis thought to lock the door.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine! I just uh... stubbed my toe on my bed!” Lewis stammers out a reply as quickly as possible, praying that it’s enough to not raise Lenny’s suspicion.

“Really?” Lenny responds with skepticism, sounding completely unconvinced, and Lewis’ heart sinks at the fact that his second oldest brother is now knows Lewis is hiding something.

“Yes! I’m fine Lenny, just leave me alone!” Lewis calls out again, feeling like he can’t breathe and his body is still frozen in fear.

“Well, you don’t sound alright, Lewis! What’s going on? Open the door!” Lenny says, knocking on the door again, causing Lewis to jump in fright.

“I said I’m fine! I just need to be alone right now!” Lewis yells back as he hurriedly grabs his quilt and wraps it around his tail, trying to dry it off as quickly as possible.

“Lewis McCartney, I swear to god, open this door right now! I know something is wrong! You have barely been home lately, and when you are, you’re always in your room! And don’t think we haven’t noticed your falling grades!” Lenny argues back, continuing to try and open the door, despite it being locked.

“Wow, you sound just like Mum! I promise Lenny, everything is fine! I’m just... going through some personal things right now. But it’s nothing to worry about I swear!” Lewis yells back in a panic while he continues furiously rubbing his tail with his quilt, praying that it dries soon. Lewis cringes a little, knowing that his response was very lame and definitely would make Lenny more suspicious.

“That’s bullshit!” Lenny shouts in response, and Lewis pauses for moment in surprise. Even Lenny goes quiet, having surprised himself, Lewis supposes. Lenny has never been one to swear, and he makes an extra special effort around his family. It started when Lewis, Zac and Jacob were a lot younger, and the habit has just kind of stuck. For Lenny to swear now, means that Lenny must be feeling extremely stressed and overwhelmed right now, more worried for Lewis than the boy in question previously thought.

“Look...” Lewis says, uncertain on what he should tell his older brother who has always looked out for him. Lewis has always felt closer to Lenny growing up, and before the Mako Island business started around two years ago, the two brothers told each other everything.

“I’m going to be okay, Lenny. Really. Once I get a handle on things, I’ll be fine. It’s just going to take some time.” Lewis eventually settles on saying with a deflated sigh while continuing to dry off his tail. What he wouldn’t give to have Rikki’s powers right now.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” Lenny retaliates, clearly not happy with Lewis’ answer. Before Lewis can reply however, his tail begins to tingle and then Lewis’ entire body becomes water for a moment before he transforms back to human. Despite the shock of seeing himself turn into water, and knowing that he’s a merman now, Lewis lets out a quiet sigh of relief, grateful that he’s finally dry. He jumps off his bed, hurries over to his door and unlocks it. Before Lewis can open it, Lenny shoves the door open in a rush. Lewis doesn’t have time to jump out of the way and the door smacks him right in the face.

“Ow!” Lewis cries out in pain as he stumbles back from the door, rubbing his forehead, trying to soothe the already forming headache. Lewis glares at his brother who hurries into the room with a worried and apologetic look on his face.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Lewis! Are you okay?” Lenny stammers an apology as he checks over the younger boy, making sure that he isn’t seriously hurt.

“I’m fine, but I could’ve opened the door myself!” Lewis hisses in annoyance while scowling at Lenny, still rubbing his forehead.

“Sorry... I wasn’t thinking.” Lenny sighs, glancing down at the ground for a moment.

“Don’t worry about it. Least it didn’t break my nose, I guess.” Lewis relents as he drops his hand his forehead, deciding to shrug off the issue and remember that things could have been worse, before walking back over to his bed and sits down. The merman waits expectantly for his older brother to join him. Soon enough, Lenny walks over and sits down next to Lewis.

“You sure you’re okay?” Lenny frowns worriedly.

“Yeah, it’s fine. Just a headache. I’ve had worse injuries.” Lewis says reassuringly, and Lenny nods in acknowledgement. The two McCartney brothers sit in silence for a few moments, with Lewis staring down at his hands. Meanwhile, Lenny gazes around Lewis’ room with curiosity, trying to spot anything that could give him a clue as to what has been going on with his brother lately.

“Why did you have your door locked, Lewis?” Lenny asks suspiciously, turning his gaze back to his brother once more. Lewis’ heart skips a beat and his mind races to try and find an excuse.

“I-I, uh... was naked?” Lewis stammers in a questioning tone, remembering the time that Emma and Rikki told Lewis the same excuse when they were at his secret fishing spot in their mermaid form, before he knew about their secret. It worked back then on Lewis, so he hopes that it will work now on Lenny.

“Oh... Oh, god. Lewis! You weren’t in your bed masturbating, were you? Why would you let me sit down? Ew!” Lenny exclaims in disgust as he jumps off the bed quickly and brushes himself off. Lewis feels his face heat up in embarrassment, absolutely not wanting to talk about this sort of stuff with Lenny, but he doesn’t really have a choice. Lewis isn’t exactly just going to tell Lenny the real truth of what’s going on, no matter how embarrassed Lewis feels.

“I’m... sorry, I guess? But, to be fair, I did tell you not to come in,” Lewis points out, causing Lenny to roll his eyes in annoyance.

“Well, thank you for getting yourself dressed before letting me in.” Lenny grumbles before he goes and sits in Lewis’ desk chair, facing towards the younger McCartney. 

“Okay, so what’s been going on, bro? You’ve been acting really weird for weeks now, more so than usual.” Lenny continues, deciding to focus on the bigger issues at the moment.

“What do you mean?” Lewis tries to reply as casually as possible, but he knows that he fails miserably judging by the disbelieving expression that Lenny is giving him. 

“Come on, Lewis. Don’t treat me like I’m stupid. You have been so jumpy lately, you will hardly look any of us in the eyes, you’re hardly ever home, you’re falling behind at school and you always look exhausted. Don’t even get me started on your overnight phobia of water. When is the last time you’ve been fishing, anyway?” Lenny says sternly. Lewis gulps nervously, fidgeting with his quilt. He honestly has no idea how to respond. Lenny is right, of course. Lewis has been acting very not himself lately, with good reason obviously, so he’s surprised that only Lenny has started to call him out on it.

“I-I... um...” Lewis stutters uncertainly, no quick excuses coming to his mind as his brother continues to stare at him. Lewis could swear that Lenny is looking right into Lewis’ soul and figuring out the puzzle.

“Is it about Cleo by any chance?” Lenny asks softly. Lewis decides that it’s best for him to stay silent this time. When Lewis doesn’t answer, Lenny continues talking.

“Are you guys still together?” Lenny continues curiously.

“Yeah,” Lewis replies, glad that there’s one question he can answer honestly at least.

“Is she... well, you know... pregnant? Are you the father?” Lenny frowns worriedly. Lewis’ jaw drops in shock when he hears Lenny’s accusation.

“Oh my god, Lenny! No, no that is not it at all! We- we haven’t even had sex yet! Cleo is not pregnant, oh my god!” Lewis yells angrily while he quickly gets to his feet. He can’t believe his brother really just asked him that.

“Sorry, sorry. My mistake. But I had to ask.” Lenny apologises, raising his hands up in surrender. An awkward silence fills the air, and neither boy seems willing to break it. As the silence continues and Lewis avoids eye contact with Lenny, Lewis knows that he would be able to cut the tension in the room with a knife.

“So... What is bothering you, then? You can tell me, Lewis. I’m not going to judge you.” Lenny eventually speaks up, getting up from the chair and over to Lewis, placing a hand on his youngest brother’s shoulder. Lewis glances up and a wave of guilt and sadness washes over him as he sees the care and concern for Lewis in Lenny’s eyes.

“I-I... I can’t, Lenny. You just wouldn’t understand...” Lewis replies with a sad sigh, folding his arms across his chest and looks down at the floor instead, unable to cope with the guilt of looking Lenny in the eyes. Lewis hates hurting Lenny like this, but there’s nothing else that he can do.

“Lewis... whatever it is that’s going on with you, I won’t tell Mum or our brothers if you really don’t want me to. Is that what you’re worried about?” Lenny continues to press, not letting go of Lewis’ shoulder. Lenny is growing more and more worried by the second, as Lewis continues to get more and more defensive and fidgety, as if he wants to escape at any moment. 

Lewis and Lenny have always been closer with each other than they are with Zac, Jacob or Daniel. Lewis and Lenny never used to keep secrets from each other. That is, until a couple of years ago, when Lewis was really bad at showing up to family events, or even just dinners at home with their brothers and Mum. Lewis seemed to always be hanging around his group of friends, constantly. Lenny didn’t think too much of it at the time, brushing it off as just a normal teenager thing. Everyone needs a break from their family at that age. 

However, in the past few weeks or so, things have changed rather drastically. This is the first proper conversation that Lenny has even had with his brother all week. If Lenny’s little brother is in any sort of trouble, he wants to help. Lenny hates the thought of Lewis getting hurt somehow.

“It’s not that, I just... I just can’t do this right now, okay? Can you just leave me alone? Please?” Lewis says with exasperation, looking back up at his brother pleadingly.

“I thought we never kept secrets from each other. What happened to that? I’m just trying to look out for you, Lewis. I can help you.” Lenny tries again, refusing to give up on his little brother. The pain and fear in Lewis’ eyes is killing Lenny inside. What could possibly be so bad that Lewis doesn’t feel like he can tell Lenny?

“No, Lenny! You really can’t. No one can! Please just leave my room! I have homework to do!” Lewis finally snaps, unable to do this anymore. He storms over to his door, yanks it open, and gestures for his older brother to leave.

“Is it... is it drugs? I’m not judging you, I just need to know.” Lenny asks as calmly as possible, ignoring Lewis’ request. He has to get to the bottom of this, one way or another.

“Oh my god, no! It is not drugs, Lenny! Get the hell out of my room!” Lewis shouts angrily, getting quite fed up with his brother’s stupid stubbornness. 

“Then what is it, Lewis? What is going on with you?! Why won’t you tell me? What are you so afraid of?!” Lenny yells back even more loudly, also getting incredibly frustrated.

“Nothing! Get out!” Lewis shouts once again, pointing aggressively towards the hallway. Lenny is about to open his mouth to respond, but is cut off by two sets of footsteps running down the hallway.

“Woah, woah, guys! What are you doing? Why are you fighting?” Zac shouts in an attempt to break up the fight as he enters the room. Not even a second later, his twin Jacob comes bursting into Lewis’ room also.

“You guys are acting like whiney 5-year-olds, Jesus! I’m sure whatever it is, you guys can solve it in a civil manner.” Jacob scolds Lewis and Lenny, scowling at each of them.

Lewis glares at all three of his brothers menacingly, hating how he is being backed up into a corner like this. At least Daniel isn’t here to join in with the interrogate Lewis train. 

“I have to go,” Lewis snaps angrily before grabbing his phone and wallet, running out of his room and down the stairs, towards the front entrance.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” Lenny yells as he too exits Lewis’ room and walks towards the stairs.

“I don’t know, I don’t care. Away from here!” Lewis retorts viciously before throwing the front door open and running outside, not bothering to close the door behind him.


	9. Water is my Enemy

Lewis runs away as fast as he can from his house, not caring where he’s going. Anywhere is better than his house at the moment. Lewis considers going to Cleo’s house, but quickly decides against it. He really doesn’t need anyone else questioning him right now, and he knows that Cleo has been very concerned about him too.

Of course, Lewis knows that he will have to tell Cleo and the rest of their friends about his new predicament at some point, but as of right now, Lewis just needs to let off some steam. At least it seems that his brothers have a good enough sense not to follow Lewis, thank goodness. If his brothers had followed him, it would certainly not make Lewis very happy.

After about 15 minutes of solid running, barely stopping to even catch his breath, Lewis finds himself at the beach. He wasn’t exactly expecting to end up here, considering he was only here earlier today.

Feeling winded and completely exhausted, Lewis runs down to the sand and immediately flops down onto it, laying there limply as he tries to get his breath back. 

After a second or so, Lewis rolls onto his back and almost immediately groans and closes his eyes as he places his arms over his face to try and block out the sun, already regretting not bringing sunglasses with him. Not that Lewis is about to go back to the house and get them, obviously. That would just result in another draining lecture from Lenny, and now Zac and Jacob too. Lewis is already dreading the lecture that he will face tonight when his mum gets home. Ugh. Lewis wishes he could just disappear off the face of the earth, never having to deal with this sort of crap again.

After catching his breath again, Lewis focuses on trying to clear his mind. Lewis zones out and listens to the sound of the waves rolling into shore, the seagulls yacking away as they fly somewhere above him, the wind roaring in his ears, and the laughter of people all around him. Even just after only a few seconds, Lewis immediately starts to calm down. 

The blond teenager lets out a relieved sigh, allowing the anger and stress to slowly drift away from him and allow relaxation and calmness take over him instead. Without even realising it, Lewis slowly starts to drift off to sleep.

~~~

About half an hour later, Lewis wakes up to hear someone calling his name. Lewis sits up and opens his eyes blearily as he brushes the sand off himself. Lewis is surprised to see Max walking towards him, carrying his fishing gear.

“Max?” Lewis smiles in confusion as he gets to his feet and walks over to met Max Hamilton, whom he hasn’t seen since the whole Charlotte fiasco.

“Long time, no see.” Max grins in greeting as he comes to a stop in front of Lewis.

“Yeah, it has been a while I suppose,” Lewis chuckles in response.

“How did it all go with Charlotte after the full moon?” Max asks the teenager curiously, but also with a hint of worry. He would hate that Charlotte might have gone and told other people about mermaids and put Cleo, Emma and Rikki in danger. Max also knew that if that did happen, it would be because of him. He was the one that told Charlotte about Gracie, and where and how to become a mermaid. He didn’t realise she would cause so much trouble. She was so much like her grandmother, but also very not alike at the same time.

“Oh, yeah, everything kind of went back to normal. Charlotte has kept her word on keeping mermaids a secret, and she has moved to Sydney with her mum to have a fresh start. As far as I know, she’s still human.” Lewis replies as he and Max begin to walk side by side down the beach, the salty sea wind whipping pleasantly at their hair.

“Good, good. I’m glad to hear it.” Max and lewis continue to walk side by side down the beach while talking and laughing about fishing, Mako Island, the three mermaids, and just life in general. The two are indeed very similar, and Lewis suspects that he will be a lot like Max when he is older. ‘Except for the whole massive regret thing though,’ Lewis hopes. For a while, Lewis feels more relaxed than he has in days, and can almost forget about all of the problems that he is currently facing. Almost. Eventually reality always has to come crashing down, doesn’t it?

“How are you and Cleo?” Max asks curiously, gazing at the boy, who reminds him so much of his younger self, with a look curiosity and hopefulness. Max really doesn’t want Lewis to make the same mistake he did 51 years ago, as it’s a decision that he has regretted all of his life and wouldn’t wish anyone to go through the same thing. Helping Lewis somehow heals some of Max’s pain a little bit.

“Yeah, yeah, we’re good. We’re still together, and I think we’re happy.” Lewis nods, just a little too quickly. Max catches onto this, as well as hearing Lewis’ voice waver a little, and Max begins to suspect that something is up.

“So, there are no dramas at all?” Max probes the issue as gently and subtly as he can.

“Uh... no, not really to be honest. I mean, we’re really happy together, and I’m so glad that I realised that she was the only one for me before it was too late. But... I was almost too late, Max. It still makes me feel a bit guilty, to know that I had hurt Cleo so much, and made so many dumb decisions thinking that it’s what Cleo wanted. I still have haunting dreams about it sometimes...” Lewis sighs, deciding that he can admit some of the truth to Max. He’s sick of having to lie about every single little detail to everyone around him, so even if he can only say a small portion of the truth, it helps Lewis feel way better.

“Are you sure that’s all it is? You look awfully exhausted, like you haven’t slept in weeks.” Max queries worriedly with a frown as he examines Lewis’ disheveled appearance, trying to figure out if Lewis is hiding something.

“Yes. Yes, I’m 100% fine. Just some bad dreams, that’s all. Nothing too crazy. Cleo and I are fine though, I assure you.” Lewis replies, trying muster all the confidence that he can into his voice.

“What were you doing sleeping on the beach, Lewis? You didn’t look like you were planning a trip down here.” Max continues, his eyebrows furrowing together suspiciously. To him, Lewis looked like he had washed up onto the shore unconscious and that the sea gulls and other animals and bugs were going to start eating him from the outside in.

“No, I guess I wasn’t...” Lewis trails off, his body tensing up again with nerves as he prepares himself once more to be on the defence and how to retaliate against all of Max’s inevitable questions.

“Is there anything that I should know about, Lewis? Is there something wrong with the girls? You can trust me; I’m here to help.” Max asks gently while giving Lewis a sideways glance.

“Uh...” Lewis hesitates as he contemplates telling Max the whole truth. Lewis is sick of lying to everyone he knows and loves, and he’s sick of being afraid all the time. Lewis knows that he can’t deal with all of these new developments on his own, and if he doesn’t feel comfortable talking to his girlfriend or his friends yet... why not talk to Max? He already knows about the magic of Mako Island and would be understanding of Lewis’ situation. In fact, maybe Max would even help Lewis with his research and find out exactly why this has happened to him, as well as the mermaids. Lewis’ spirits lift a little at the thought, desperately wanting someone to confide in. Just having his own thoughts as company through all of this is starting to get draining. Lewis opens his mouth to say something, but before he gets to talk, he hears a cry of warning from behind him.

Lewis whirls around with widened eyes just in time to see a beach volley ball heading straight towards him, as someone hits it way out of court. To his horror, Lewis can see the tiny droplets of water flicking off the ball in all directions. The ball must have been thrown into the water recently. Without any time to lose, Lewis instinctively jumps into action, not wasting any time to think. Lewis dives as far to his left as he possibly can. His body aches in protest as he hits the ground while sand suddenly flies all over the place, ending up in his hair, ears and mouth, but Lewis doesn’t care. There are more important things to be worried about right now. As he coughs and splutters, Lewis scrambles to sit up and watches as the volleyball flies past him safely, and thankfully no droplets of water falling onto his skin, meaning no tail.

Lewis breathes a huge sigh of relief, hating how close that was. He now realised how stupid it was to just fall asleep on the beach like that. He could have easily been splashed. Lewis blushes and waves as an award apology to the group of teenagers playing volleyball as they stare at him weirdly while one of them go and run after the ball. He then turns his attention back to Max, who is gazing at Lewis mysteriously. Lewis gulps nervously, afraid that Max has figured him out.

Max watches as Lewis dives sideways into the warm sand to avoid the volleyball hurtling towards him. At first, Max is very confused by Lewis’ sudden and unexpected reaction to something so harmless, but as the volleyball flies past, he notices the glistening droplets of water on the ball, flicking off in all sorts of directions as the ball continues flying through the air. Suddenly, a theory starts to formulate in his head.

“Not a fan of volleyballs, Lewis?” Max asks, raising an eyebrow slightly and a smile starting to form on his face. 

“Well, I don’t really want to be hit in the head with one, no.” Lewis says as he scrambles to his feet and hurries to brush the sand off himself, hoping that Max will just drop the subject. Lewis knows the more that Max questions him, the more likely Max will come to the correct conclusion himself. That time when Max blackmailed Lewis into taking him to Mako Island and into the moon pool, where he splashed water on Cleo, is proof enough that Max has a way of digging up the truth. While Lewis really does want someone to talk to about this new side of him, Lewis wants it to be on his own terms. He doesn’t want to be exposed. Lewis may not be able to control the fact that he’s half fish now, but at least he can control when, how and who knows about his secret.

“Alright, fair enough.” Max raises his hands in the air as a sign of surrender, deciding that he won’t push the issue with Lewis further, as it is clear that he doesn’t want to talk about it. When Lewis is ready to share, Max will be more than happy to help Lewis with whatever is going on... Until then, Max will just continue to ponder over his theories.

Just as suddenly as the tension in the air around the two scientists appears, it disappears just as quickly once Max decides to stop interrogating Lewis further. They go back into a more easy and relaxed conversation as they continue walking down the beach with the wind rushing past them while the waves roll into the shore in the background.

~~~

Four days later, Lewis is running to his chemistry class, internally kicking himself for waking up late this morning because he accidentally didn’t set up his alarm last night. His teacher would absolutely not be happy with him if he was late, especially as chemistry is one of the subjects where he is starting to fall behind in. It’s one of Lewis’ favourite subjects, but of course he has had more pressing issues to deal with and other experiments to conduct lately.

As Lewis rounds the corner of the block that the chemistry lab is in, Lewis glances at his watch. He is indeed late, but thankfully not too late. If he continues to hurry, Lewis will only end up being about five minutes late, and to some teachers, they don’t even notice someone new arriving within the first five minutes for the lesson. Lewis hopes that his chemistry teacher will be like that as well.

After a few more seconds of running while his lungs feel like they are about to burst, Lewis finally makes it to the chemistry lab room. Not wanting to waste a second longer, Lewis bursts into the room, but yelps as he falls over his own feet in his haste. Lewis cries out in surprise as he falls onto the ground, landing with a hard and painful thud.

“Ow,” Lewis mumbles as the students surrounding him laugh hysterically at his clumsiness.

“Lewis McCartney!” His teacher, Ms Taylor, shouts sternly, causing Lewis to wince. He really doesn’t know if he wants to look up to see his teacher’s face, but he knows that he doesn’t really have a choice.

“Yes, Ms Taylor...” Lewis sighs heavily and begins to lift his head up to see Ms Taylor standing up from her desk, staring down at him sternly.

“What on earth do you think you are you doing? Not only do you show up to my class five minutes late, you decide to make the loudest and the most dramatic entrance ever!” Ms Taylor exclaims in frustration.

“I know, I’m sorry Ms Taylor, I slept in...” Lewis sighs heavily as he quickly recollects himself and clambers to his feet, grateful that he at least zipped his bag closed so that his books and stationary didn’t fall all over the floor.

“That’s not good enough, Lewis. Especially since your grades have been dropping lately. I’m starting to see why. You’re lucky that I’m not going to give you detention. Now, take your seat, before I change my mind.” Ms Taylor scowls and points to the seat next to a girl named Chloe.

“Yes, Miss...” Lewis replies, feeling deflated, as he makes his way to his seat, very aware of the entire class having their eyes on him. Man, it would have been nice to have at least one of his friends in his class, but unfortunately that is not the case.

“Right. Now that everyone is here and no more distractions, let’s get on with today’s practical. Please open your textbooks to page 256 to find the instructions for your experiment.” Ms Taylor announces, clapping her hands once, wanting to move onto today’s lesson. No point focusing the whole lesson on a student who is disorganised and distracted. In the end, Lewis is the one that will suffer the consequences, not her.


	10. A Fishy Situation

Only 10 minutes into the chemistry lesson, Lewis realises that he can’t do this. The experiment involves too much water. It’s way too risky. Lewis is dumb to have even thought it could work out fine in the first place.

At the current moment, Lewis is sitting at the furthest point of the lab bench from the experiment as possible, while Chloe works on the experiment on her own. The Bunsen burner is turned on with a beaker of bubbling water on top of it, and Chloe is about to add the next ingredient into the beaker, preparing for the next stage of the experiment. Chloe looks up at Lewis with annoyance.

“Seriously, Lewis? You’re not going to help me at all? Are you at least writing notes?!” Chloe scolds her lab partner, extremely unimpressed. Lewis shrugs his shoulders apologetically, not taking his eyes off the water in the beaker, scared that it will jump out at him at any moment. Lewis has to be prepared to make a run for it. Lewis can feel Chloe’s eyes trained on him as she waits for a response.

“I-I... I just can’t, Chloe... I’m sorry...” Lewis stammers, finally risking looking up at his lab partner. She looks enraged, and almost drops the vial of liquid in her hand as her attention focuses on Lewis instead of the experiment.

“What do you mean you can’t?! This isn’t an individual experiment, Lewis! You’re the best at chemistry out of every student in this room! Why are you really not wanting to do this experiment?!” Chloe demands to know. Lewis cringes internally, knowing that their argument has caught the attention of other students, and no doubt it’s starting to catch Ms Taylor’s attention as well.

“Just drop it, okay? I don’t want to talk about it.” Lewis pleads tiredly.

“You’re not even writing notes of the experiment and our observations so far for us. You do know that we have to write a report on this, right?” Chloe scowls in anger and exasperation.

“Of course I know that, Chloe. It’ll be fine, I promise. We will work it out.” Lewis sighs, rubbing a hand over his face in exhaustion. He’s sick of this. He can’t keep doing this. How is he supposed to live his life as normal if he springs a tail (which he definitely doesn’t want, by the way) any time he touches water? How can he become a proper scientist if he can’t get some water spilled on him? Lewis wouldn’t even be able to last one week at University, both in class and outside of class, let alone the workforce! Lewis’ life is over!

In the exact same moment as Lewis’ anger, fear, despair and sadness all come to a boil and Lewis wants to scream, the water in all of the beakers in the chemistry suddenly explode upwards, causing water to spray everywhere and over everyone. The sound of glass shattering can’t be heard over the sound of students screaming in shock and fear. Confused as to what the hell is happening, Lewis tries to leap backwards from the exploding water, but he’s too late, as a huge splash of water from another classmate’s beaker lands on Lewis. Thankfully, the water from that beaker hadn’t warmed up too much yet, but unfortunately that is not Lewis’ biggest concern. He feels his heart sink into his stomach, fear and panic taking a hold of him, eyes going wide in horror, knowing exactly what happens next.

With everyone being distracted by the spontaneous explosion of water, Lewis runs out of the lab as quickly as he possibly can, with his heart pounding rapidly in his chest. Time feels like it is going in slow motion, as Lewis shoves past people in the walkway, even pushing a few people to the ground. Usually, Lewis would apologise endlessly for something like that, but right now, it’s either one or two people getting some light scratches, or Lewis ends up in a display tank for the rest of his life. He swears that one of the people he runs into is Zane, but Lewis doesn’t have time to stop and notice. Lewis races to the storage room just a few doors down from the chemistry lab and locks himself inside just in time before his body becomes water once more, his legs beginning to fuse together. In the next second, Lewis has his blue fish tail back once again, and is falling forwards, painfully and loudly crashing into brooms and supply boxes. This is soon followed by a knock on the door, causing Lewis to freeze in terror.

~~~

Zane is walking down the walkway, heading back to his car, as he has just finished his final class for the day. He technically has two free lesson time slots still to go, but why bother spending them in this hell? Might as well go and relax at home.

However, Zane is pulled out of his relief of being done with school for the day when a body slams into his, sending Zane tumbling to the ground, feeling shocked.

“Hey! What the hell?! Watch where you’re going, lunatic!” Zane yells angrily as he gets back on his feet and stares in the direction that the shover is running. It only takes a moment for Zane to recognise that mop blond blond hair and ugly plaid t-shirt sprinting for dear life.

“...Lewis?” Zane frowns in confusion as he watches Lewis push past several more people before running into a storage room and closing the door behind him. Having nothing better to do, Zane follows after Lewis. The two might not be super close friends or anything, but Zane at least wants to know what the hell happened. Why Lewis was in such a hurry and seemed so... so panicked? 

Once again, Zane is pulled out of his thoughts as he hears a loud crashing sound and a cry of surprise and pain coming from the storage room.

“What the?” Zane mutters to himself as he quickens his pace, hurrying over to the storage room. Zane tries to open the door, but finds it locked. Out of the corner of his eye, Zane can see dozens of people staring at him, wondering what all the noise and confusion is about. Zane knocks on the door quickly.

“Lewis, what the hell are you doing in there? What was that crashing noise? Don’t you have chemistry right now?” Zane begins in an interrogative tone, not wanting to leave this door until he can get some damn answers for the weird shit that Lewis just pulled.

“Go away, Zane! You’re the last person I want to talk to right now!” Lewis yells back in response. 

“What happened?” Zane tries again, even more determined to get to the truth purely to annoy Lewis. It is definitely not because Zane actually somewhat cares for the nerd. That’d be ridiculous. Only reason that Zane hangs around Lewis in the first place is because Lewis is friends with Rikki, Emma and Cleo. Of course they’re going to be hanging around each other some of the time, especially since Rikki and Cleo are their girlfriends. The two of them barely tolerate each other even when they are working together to try and protect the girls. There’s no way that Zane would actually care about Lewis himself, it’s just the consequences that would follow with Rikki if Zane just let this go. Yeah, that’s what it is.

“I’m fine! Just go away!” Lewis shouts defensively through the door.

“Oh god, you’re not crying are you?” Zane asks with a groan.

“No! I just want to be left alone!” Lewis replies, a hint of anger and frustration underlying his tone.

“Did something happen with you and Cleo?” Zane asks in a slightly softer tone. As much as he hates to admit it, Zane would actually be upset if Lewis and Cleo broke up... again. Ever since primary school, although not officially together, it has always been Lewis and Cleo. The pair were inseparable. Back when he was seven, Zane even made a bet with Nate that Lewis and Cleo would be married one day. Zane still stands by that bet, and is expecting Nate to pay up good. It’d be great to see Nate super pissed off about them being together too, since he’s always had a bit of a crush on Cleo. Unrequited, of course. Even though Nate is Zane’s best friend, Nate is still a major asshole.

Anyhow, Zane truly believes that Cleo and Lewis are clearly meant for each other, for so many reasons. Lewis and Cleo’s relationship does effect the whole group as well, so if their relationship is on the rocks, then the rest of the group will soon fall into drama as well. And besides, even if Lewis is a dweeb, Zane understands how bad heartbreak and regret hurts. He doesn’t wish anyone to go through it. Somehow, Zane got lucky when Rikki gave him a second chance. Cleo gave Lewis a second chance as well. Did he blow it somehow?

“No, it’s not that, Zane, but can you please just... go. I’ll be fine. I’ll be out in a minute. I just needed to be by myself and get out of that classroom.” Zane hears Lewis sigh sadly through the door. Zane frowns in concern.

“Look, Lewis, I know we haven’t really exactly gotten off on the right foot in the past, but... it’s just too weird seeing you like this. Stop being so mopey.” Zane replies, feeling a bit awkward as he brings feelings up in the conversation. Ugh, the worst. Especially when half of the school is watching.

“Look. Zane. If you really want to help me, you would just turn around and walk away.” Lewis states curtly, leaving no room for argument. 

Zane wants to retaliate and argue back to Lewis, never wanting to back down so easily. However in this particular instance, Zane doesn’t think he will be able to get any sort of answers out of Lewis. Whatever happened must have really spooked him, and Zane definitely wouldn’t have been one of Lewis’ top choices of who to confide in anyway. Maybe it’s just best for Zane to drop it.

“Ugh. Whatever, just don’t say I didn’t try to help you,” Zane scoffs before walking away, trying to play the whole thing off as cool as possible. With that, Zane turns around and walks away, not caring that people stare at him as he does so. He knew he wasn’t going to get any answers out of Lewis any time soon. Perhaps Cleo knows what’s going on with the geek? Zane decides that he will have to ask her at some point. Not that he actually cares about Lewis, he just doesn’t want his problems interfering with Zane and Rikki’s relationship. Nothing more.

“Come on, everyone. Show’s over.” Zane says as he glances around at the gawking teenagers, suggesting that they all go back to class. Eventually, they seem to all disperse in different directions, seemingly not interested in Lewis’ weird behaviour and the fact that he still hasn’t come out of the storage room. 

Zane however, is still filled with suspicion. He strongly suspects that Lewis is hiding something, Zane just doesn’t know what. Zane sighs as he continues to make his way back to his car, trying to push the strange incident to the back of his mind. Right now, Zane doesn’t want to worry about Lewis. He wants to actually enjoy his early freedom from the tortures of school.


	11. The Mystery of Lewis McCartney

“Hey, stranger.” Zane greets with a mischievous smile as he walks towards the area of the jetty where his girlfriend is standing, looking out towards the ocean. Rikki turns around as she hears Zane speak, her eyes lighting up a little bit, and Zane’s heart skips a beat, though he would never admit it to anyone. Zane admires Rikki for a moment, gazing into her sapphire blue eyes and watches as her curly blonde hair flies about in the wind. She’s so beautiful.

“Hey yourself,” Rikki smirks as she makes her way over to Zane, wrapping her arms around his neck. Zane the places his hands on Rikki’s waist, pulling her in close.

“How’s my favourite mermaid?” Zane asks quietly as he presses a kiss to Rikki’s neck. The mermaid in question rolls her eyes and pulls out of Zane’s grasp, beginning to walk down the jetty steps and onto the sandy beach.

“Same old, same old. Still struggling to get through school, trying to deal with you, and of course I’m still a fish. So, pretty normal circumstances, if you ask me.” Rikki replies sarcastically as Zane follows her down onto the beach. The two of them begin walking side by side, the cool sea breeze rushing past them, rustling their hair around.

“What do you mean, trying to deal with me? I’m perfect, and I make your life complete.” Zane smirks at the blonde mermaid walking along next to him, who scoffs and rolls her eyes in response.

“Mmhm, okay, Zane. I don’t know about that one. Might need to tone your ego down by like, a thousand.” Rikki says, nudging Zane’s arm playfully.

“Come on, you know you love me.” Zane teases as his puts an arm around Rikki’s shoulders and pulls her in close to him, which the mermaid gladly accepts.

“Hmm, do I really know that?” Rikki responds, raising an eyebrow at her boyfriend mysteriously.

“Maybe I’m just with you because I feel sorry for you, since no other girl would ever want to go out with you.” Rikki adds, continuing the banter.

“Wow. Harsh.” Zane laughs in amusement, and Rikki joins in shortly after. Zane then suddenly comes to a stop and grabs her by the waist, lifting her up into the air with a wild grin on his face.

“Zane, what are you doing?!” Rikki gasps in surprise.

“I’m not letting you down until you say you love me.” Zane replies with an evil smirk.

“Well, you’ll be waiting a long time then.” Rikki replies with her own stubborn smirk. In the next moment, Zane starts spinning around, causing Rikki to cry out in surprise, laughing all the while.

“Zane, put me down!” Rikki laughs as she tries to struggle out of Zane’s grip. This only makes him drop her a little bit so that he can readjust his grip and is now holding her bridal style.

“Never.” Zane grins determinedly as he continues to spin around while Rikki grabs onto Zane’s shoulders. After a few more moments, Rikki relents.

“Alright, Alright! I love you! There, I said it. Happy now?” Rikki eventually says, impressed that Zane can be as stubborn as she can be. Zane finally stops spinning around and places Rikki back on the ground, but continues to hold onto her waist. Rikki doesn’t let go of Zane’s shoulders either.

“I love you too,” Zane replies seriously as he stares deeply into Rikki’s eyes, something he never thought he’d do with someone. And sharing feelings? Until he met Rikki, Zane had believed that to be impossible. He hates being vulnerable with anyone, why would he want to show his weak side? With Rikki though, it’s different. She was the first person Zane finally could be himself around, and Zane will always be grateful for that.

“Ugh. I think Lewis and Cleo are rubbing off on us. That was so cheesy.” Rikki complains, but she can’t help but smile and her cheeks heat up a little while her heart swells at Zane’s words.

“No one has to know,” Zane shrugs, a grin appearing on his face.

“Sounds good to me.” Rikki agrees before leaning in and pulling Zane into a kiss. She cups the side of his face and closes her eyes as the kiss becomes more passionate. Zane kisses back happily, never wanting to leave this blissful moment.

Eventually, the couple manage to pull away from each other enough so that they can breathe again. They open their eyes and stare at each other with dazed smiles on their faces.

“We need to do more of that,” Zane states, still not quite having his breath back yet.

“Lots more of that,” Rikki agrees with a nod. Zane begins to lean in for another kiss, and for a moment it seems that Rikki is intending to follow suit, but just before Zane’s lips touch hers, Rikki smirks and pulls away. She starts walking down the beach again, looking over her shoulder and laughing at Zane’s disappointed and slightly shocked face.

“Just not right now.” Rikki says through her laughter.

“You’re such a tease, Rikki Chadwick! It’s not fair!” Zane groans before he starts walking after his girlfriend.

“Well, that’s my job. To endlessly torture you,” Rikki grins playfully.

“Besides, I’m meant to be catching up with the girls at Mako soon anyway. They won’t be impressed if I’m late because of you.” Rikki adds as the young couple continue walking down the beach together, enjoying the sunshine, cool breeze and the sound of the waves in the distance.

“Ugh. Fine. Just as long as we can spend all day together tomorrow. We haven’t done that in ages.” Zane agrees as he takes Rikki’s hand in his.

“It’s a deal. I’ll be all yours tomorrow, I promise.” Rikki replies reassuringly with a small comforting smile on her face.

“Speaking of the girls though... is there something going on between Lewis and Cleo?“ Zane enquires curiously, remembering the strange run in he had with Lewis earlier that day at school.

“Uh... I don’t think so? They seem as happy as usual to me. If you ask me, they’re too sickly sweet and head over heels with each other.” Rikki frowns, stopping in her tracks and turns to face Zane, who also stops walking.

“Why do you ask?” Rikki questions worriedly, knowing Zane wouldn’t bring this sort of thing up for no reason.

“Well, Lewis was acting weird today at school. I know Lewis is always weird, but this was... extra weird.” Zane begins to explain.

“Acting weird how?” Rikki asks, her frown deepening.

“He ran out of his chemistry class, pushed me and a couple other people over in his haste, and then shut himself inside the storage room. There was a loud crash, but Lewis wouldn’t open the door, nor explained what he was doing. I had no idea what to make of it.” Zane continues, shrugging cluelessly. There’s a couple moments of silence as the two teenagers contemplate what to do, wondering if there is actually something going on, or if Lewis is just being his weird self.

“Yeah, that’s definitely... strange. And not like Lewis at all. I’ll ask Cleo about it when I see her. If anyone would know what’s going on with Lewis, it would be her.” Rikki eventually answers as she crosses her arms across her chest and chews the inside of her mouth as she tries to figure out what could be going on. What if Cleo and Lewis were really having problems in their relationship? What if it’s something worse?

“Let me know what you find out, will you? Not that I’m worried about Lewis at all, but I just want to know why he shoved me into the ground.” Zane speaks, pulling Rikki out of her thoughts.

“Sure, Zane, whatever you say.” Rikki rolls her eyes while a grin forms on her face, knowing that deep down, Zane has started to somewhat care about Lewis and the others, as much as he adamantly denies it.

“Anyway, I should get going. I’ll call you later.” Rikki continues, leaning forwards and kissing Zane on the cheek. 

“Alright. Have fun, talk to you soon.” Zane replies with a soft smile. With that, Rikki nods and then turns around and begins to make her way towards the ocean. Zane watches in awe as Rikki races down towards the shoreline and dives into the water, disappearing from view.

“Awesome.” Zane mumbles to himself in amazement.

~~~

“Rikki! Why are you late?” Emma frowns as she and Cleo, who are setting on the underwater ledge of the moon pool, watches as Rikki emerges from the underwater entrance.

“Sorry. I was with Zane, if you really must know.” Rikki replies as she swims over towards her friends, resting her arm on the side of the moon pool’s edge.

“Of course you were.” Emma rolls her eyes, not surprised in the slightest.

“He really isn’t as bad as you think, Emma. I know we can trust him.” Rikki says, a little annoyed with Emma for still being so uptight and distrusting about Rikki and Zane getting back together. It’s one thing for Emma to not trust Zane, but it also seems like Emma doesn’t trust her.

“So you keep saying. But he’s sold us out before.” Emma retorts snappishly.

“And what makes you so sure that Ash won’t blab, huh?” Rikki retaliates as her frustration continues to build. Already, she’s starting to regret coming to Mako. She should have just stayed with Zane instead.

“Not telling the world about us to begin with would be a great start!” Emma replies, almost in a shout.

“Guys! Cool it! Let’s not argue, okay? I didn’t come out to Mako just to listen to you bicker the whole time. Both of you need to trust your boyfriends more, as well as each other. Okay?” Cleo interrupts loudly and firmly, before anything can escalate further. The brunette glares at her two best friends, whose angry expressions are starting to soften a little bit.

“Sorry Cleo... you’re right.” Rikki sighs, hating that Cleo always has to be in the middle of her fights with Emma. It’s definitely not fair to Cleo.

“Yeah, we’ll have to work on it, I guess. I’m sorry, Cleo.” Emma apologises.

“It’s okay. I’m glad this argument didn’t need to drag on longer than it needed to be.” Cleo says, smiling in relief.

“Me too,” Emma agrees, while Rikki nods in agreement as well. The three mermaids float in peaceful silence for several minutes, enjoying the way that the moon pool feels like their home, a soft energy seeming to crackle through the air around them as their tails gently swish about in the water. No matter what their mood before reaching the moon pool, it is always softened and calmed once they arrive. It’s a comforting feeling that all of the girls experience, but never have to describe to each other. The three mermaids continue to lie in silence and listen to the gentle sound of the water lapping up against the sides of the moon pool. Everything just feels so magical in here.

“Do you think the boys can feel the magic in this place? Or is it just a mermaid thing?” Cleo asks curiously, finally breaking the silence.

“I don’t know. I highly doubt it though. They aren’t connected to this place like we are, and never will be. They’ll never truly be able to understand it. As much as Lewis wants to understand this place and continue to try to scientifically explain the mysteries of this place, he will never be able to. As Ms Chatham has said before, magic and science don’t mix.” Rikki replies with a half hearted shrug. She wishes that Lewis would just listen to her and give up on trying to find out how Mako works, as it’s a fruitless effort. Maybe if he was apart of the magic himself, he would understand that. As it so happens, Lewis is not magically connected to the island.

“It doesn’t mean he can’t figure out some answers,” Cleo responds back to Rikki, and Emma nods in agreement with Cleo.

“He has helped us through a lot, Rikki. We gotta give him credit for that, and for never giving up on trying to help us.” Emma adds, backing up Cleo.

“Whatever. All I’m saying is that our boyfriends will never truly know what any of this is like, and they will only ever have theories. It’s just the way it is.” Rikki sighs, not having the energy to continue on with this conversation right now.

“Speaking of Lewis though, has anyone seen or heard from him lately? I swear I’ve hardly seen him in the past few days and he is barely answers any of my calls or texts.” Cleo asks worriedly, deciding to move onto a more pressing topic that has been on her mind.

“No, not really. I just figured he was at home catching up on his schoolwork.” Emma shrugs in response.

“Well... I haven’t personally seen Lewis, but Zane apparently ran into him at school today.” Rikki answers hesitantly. She was going to bring this conversation up, but she had hoped Cleo would have known what was going on, but Rikki is starting to think that Cleo actually has no idea.

“Really? Did Zane say anything else?” Cleo asks hopefully.

“Yeah, he said Lewis was acting really weird at school. He ran out of class, pushed past people and hid in the storage room. Zane didn’t get any answers out of Lewis.” Rikki replies honestly. There’s a silence among the group for a couple of moments.

“Wait... what? He ran out of class and locked himself in the storage room? Why?” Cleo frowns in concern.

“Don’t ask me, I’m just the messenger. Besides, Zane doesn’t know anything else because Lewis didn’t say anything, other than telling Zane to go away.” Rikki states as she raises her hands out of the water as a sign of surrender.

“Maybe he was having a panic attack?” Emma suggests, knowing all too well what that’s like. She used to get them a lot when she was little. Swimming helped her through it, and now Mako Island, her friends and Ash have replaced the role swimming once had.

“Maybe... but why wouldn’t Lewis tell me? I know he has been struggling lately, but I never realised it was to the point of panic attacks. I need to talk to him...” Cleo sighs sadly, worry settling in her stomach for her boyfriend.

“Look, Cleo, we don’t know anything for sure. Maybe he’s just being his usual weird self. Maybe he had an epiphany of some sort and went to try and find a quiet spot to test his theory, or least write it down. I don’t know. Just don’t jump to any conclusions until you talk to him, okay? Worrying unnecessarily doesn’t do anyone any good.” Rikki advises as she looks over to her distressed friend.

“I guess... but I’m definitely going to meet up with Lewis tomorrow to try and get to the bottom of all of this.” Cleo decides firmly.

“That’s a good idea.” Emma agrees.

“Is that enough of the serious chat now? Because I want to race you both back to shore, even though it won’t really be a race because I will obviously win.” Rikki asks with a smirk.

“Ha, you’ve never beaten me before, so I don’t think you’ll beat me now!” Emma scoffs.

“If you guys stopped cutting me off, I would beat both of you.” Cleo interjects, pouring a little bit.

“Yeah, sure, Cleo. You’re gonna have to prove that.” Rikki replies, sounding very unconvinced.

“Oh, you’re on!” Cleo challenges as she moves away from the moon pool’s ledge and dives back down underwater, with Emma and Rikki closely following in pursuit.


	12. Keep the Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, I hope you have been enjoying the story so far! I have had a fun time writing it 😀. So far, I have 20+ more chapters already written, though some will need some editing of course. Anyway, my point being is that I am not sure how frequently I should be posting updates. Would you guys prefer a couple updates a week, or would one update a week be better? Let me know, and I’ll create a schedule that I’ll follow in the future. In the mean time, enjoy the new chapter!

Lewis is currently sitting in his room, trying to process what the hell just happened at school this afternoon. It all feels surreal, like it should be something out of Lewis’ nightmares. Unfortunately, it actually happened. Thank god he made it to the storage room and locked it in time. Lewis shudders at the thought of the consequences if he had not done so. 

However, despite all of that, the main thing on Lewis’ mind is the exploding beakers. Did he do that? Does that mean he has water shaping powers, like Cleo? Lewis never even considered that he would get a power. Just another thing he has to worry about, and Lewis really doesn’t need to add any more stresses to his plate right now.

“Great. I’m a fish that can move water now, I guess.” Lewis mumbles to himself under his breath while he stares at his hands. Why, oh, why did all of this have to happen to him? What did Lewis do to deserve this sort of punishment? It’s not fair. Lewis has always strived to do the right thing, but this is what he has been given in return. 

Lewis honestly can’t believe that the girls haven’t gone insane yet. How can they handle all of this? It has only been roughly a week and Lewis can’t deal with this anymore, yet the girls have been managing it for over two years. Maybe Lewis is just pathetically weak after all. Lewis sighs, knowing that this type of thinking isn’t going to help in any way. What’s done is done and Lewis needs to figure out a way to move on in his life, and find answers to the mysteries of Mako Island if possible. 

However, Lewis can’t afford to hope for a way to reverse what has happened to him. The only concrete way of becoming human again is to jump into the moon pool when all of the planets are aligned with the full moon, which only happens every 50 years. Unfortunately for Lewis, this event happened last year, when Charlotte lost her powers. If Lewis has to wait another 49 years just to become human again, why even bother. It’s too late by then.

Lewis sighs to himself as he gets up from his bed and makes his way over to his desk and sits down. He then unlocks his desk drawer and pulls out his journal, with all of his findings and observations on Mako Island and mermaids (and now mermen, Lewis supposes), reading over his notes. While Lewis has not made much progress in terms of making life easier for himself or the girls, he has at least started making progress on figuring out the science of Mako Island. Of course, he knows that not all of it will ever be able to be explained, but whatever is explainable, Lewis will find out. 

He also has many detailed notes on the mermaids’ tails, powers, how long they can hold their breath underwater, how fast they can swim, and so on. Eventually, Lewis will have to record his own merman stats into the journal and likely compare them with his friends’ mermaid stats. 

Despite still not being happy about the situation that he is in, Lewis is definitely curious about whether there is any differences between mermaid and mermen abilities. He already knows that colour of the tails are different; who knows what else could be different? There’s only one way for Lewis to find out, but he will have to tackle that another day... once he tells his friends about what happened to him. Lewis still doesn’t know how he will approach that situation yet, terrified of what they might think of him. Not to mention that Lewis hasn’t even come to terms with what he is yet, so if other people find out, he would be overwhelmed by all of their questions, confusion and curiosity. Lewis is just trying to approach this whole thing one step at a time, only focusing on one aspect to solve at any one time. Compartmentalising is probably going to be key for Lewis to come to accept his new lifestyle.

Lewis flips his journal open to the closest blank page, grabs his pen and begins to scribble down some notes about what happened to him at school today, as well as his theory about him having the same water shaping powers that Cleo has. He pauses for a moment, wondering what the implications of sharing the same power as Cleo are, and why the moon gave them the same powers. Unfortunately, there’s no real way for Lewis to find out the answer to that, unless the moon could suddenly start speaking. That would certainly be nice and make life a lot easier. Oh, if only.

About 10 minutes go by, Lewis completely absorbed in writing notes in his journal about his own discoveries of being a merman and comparing them to the three girls’ experiences of being mermaids, but he is suddenly snapped out of his little bubble when he hears someone knocking on his door. Lewis almost jumps out of his skin at the sound and he swears that his heart decides to just exit his body at this point. 

“Lewis? Are you in there?” Kelly McCartney calls out from the other side of the door, causing dread to flow through Lewis’ veins. Under no circumstances, Lewis cannot let his family find out about this new life of his. Both because it’s too risky, and that Lewis is terrified that his family might think that he’s some sort of monster now. Lewis isn’t even sure himself if he’s a monster or not, if he’s completely honest with himself.

In a completely hurried panic, Lewis rushes to shove his journal back into the drawer underneath his desk, locking it securely.

“Yes, Mum, you can come in!” Lewis calls out as he quickly shoves the key to his desk drawer into his pocket while whirling around in his desk chair to face the door. Not a moment later, the door opens and Lewis’ Mum steps into the room.

“Dinner’s ready, honey. I made your favourite: salmon and roast vegetables. I know you’ve been having a tough time with school lately, and I thought you deserved a bit of a break.” Lewis’ mum smiles down at him, seemingly completely unaware of how nervous Lewis looks right now.

“Wow... you didn’t have to do that for me, Mum...” Lewis comments in surprise.

“Oh, don’t be silly. You’ve been working so hard this year, and I can tell that you’ve been feeling the pressure lately. I promise you, Lewis, that you will do great, and I’m glad you’ve got a good support network of friends. I don’t tell you this often enough honey, but I’m so proud of you.” Kelly smiles lovingly at her son.

“Thanks, Mum. That means a lot.” Lewis replies, his anxiety calming down a little.

“You’re welcome. Now, let’s get downstairs before dinner goes cold, or one of your brothers steal your food.” Kelly announces before turns around and walks out the door.

“Ughhhh, Daniel better not steal my food again, I swear to god I will kill him!” Lewis groans as he stands up and rushes out of his room, following his mum downstairs and into the dining room, where Daniel, Lenny, Zac and Jacob are already digging into their meals.

~~~

The next morning, Lewis is sitting in his usual booth at the Juicenet cafe, waiting for Cleo to arrive. He can’t help but drum his fingers on the table nervously. Now that Lewis is at the cafe, he’s not sure if meeting Cleo here is a good idea after all. What would he even say? ‘Hey Cleo, I’m a fish too, sorry I didn’t tell you sooner’? No way. 

However, Lewis does know that his girlfriend has been worrying about him a lot, judging by the desperate call he had gotten from Cleo earlier this morning. It’s the reason that he had agreed to meet in the first place, to try and calm Cleo’s anxiety a bit. Lewis feels bad that Cleo is stressed because of him and his stupidity, that’s totally unfair on Cleo. Lewis hasn’t meant for all of this to spiral out of control so quickly. He’s only been a merman for just under a week and he’s already causing massive strains in his relationships with his family, friends and Cleo.

Lewis sighs, not knowing what to do. He realises that Cleo and the others have to find out eventually, it’s not something he can hide forever, despite how much he wishes he could. He hates lying to Cleo like this, they have always told each other everything. Lewis is just scared that she will feel betrayed once she knows the truth. Deep down, Lewis realises that all of his fears about Cleo’s future reaction is pretty irrational, but despite knowing that he can’t stop thinking about it. Cleo means the world to Lewis; he does not want to lose her. 

“Lewis! I’m glad you could make it! It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages!” A familiar voice calls out, breaking Lewis out of his thoughts. Lewis looks up and smiles as he watches the brunette mermaid walk towards his booth and then sits down across from him, with a bright smile of her own.

“I’m glad to see you too, Cleo. I’ve missed you.” Lewis responds honestly, causing Cleo to smile even more as her cheeks turn slightly pink.

“I’ve missed you too, Lewis. I’ve been really worried about you,” Cleo says as she reaches her hand out across the table and takes Lewis’ hand in her own, squeezing it gently.

“I’m really sorry I haven’t been around much or talked to you much in the last few days, I’ve just been... caught up with homework and stuff.” Lewis apologises, trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice.

“Zane said he saw you at school yesterday, and that you ran out of class in a hurry and locked yourself in the storage room. What was that all about?” Cleo frowns in concern.

“Um... I, uh... I-I just needed to leave.” Lewis stammers awkwardly, unable to look Cleo in the eyes.

“Why? Did something happen?” Cleo asks softly, not letting go of Lewis’ hand. Cleo can’t help but notice how Lewis is avoiding her eyes, hardly able to even look up at her, instead keeping his eyes on the table. Something is definitely up with him, and Cleo is going to find out what.

“No, no, it’s just.... I had to get out of there. It was just too much for me yesterday. The stress of school and how I’m still falling behind in everything, knowing that my chemistry teacher hates me, and the tension between Lenny and I lately. I just needed to be alone. Yes, I left in a bit of a rush, but I felt like I couldn’t breathe.” Lewis explains hesitantly. He isn’t exactly lying to Cleo, but he also is not telling her the truth either. Lewis has been worried about his schoolwork, wondering if his chemistry teacher thinks that he’s an idiot, and things with Lenny have been rough since their argument the other day. In fact, the two brothers haven’t talked since then. Of course, those things haven’t been his main concern or the main reason he has been avoiding everyone and everything lately.

“Oh... why didn’t you tell me earlier? I would’ve tried to help you through those things. I know that you feel like you have to always be strong for me, as well as for Emma and Rikki, but you don’t. Not to me, anyway. You don’t have to try and pretend like there’s never anything wrong when there really is. Just because mine, Rikki and Emma’s problems are on the weird side, it doesn’t make your problems any less important. You and I are a team. We both help support each other when in need, it can’t just be one sided.” Cleo says after a moment or two of contemplation.

“I... You’re right, Cleo. I’m sorry. I should have just told you sooner.” Lewis sighs apologetically, finally having the courage to look up into Cleo’s eyes, which are staring warmly and kindly at him.

“It’s okay, Lewis. I’m glad you told me now. We can get through this together, okay? We can do more study sessions and help you get your grades back up. You’re the smartest guy I know, you’ll be able to do it easily.” Cleo replies with a confident smile, and Lewis starts to feel a bit better. 

“Thank you, Cleo. That would be great. Thank you for believing in me.” Lewis smiles gratefully at his girlfriend, once again wondering how the hell he ever got so lucky to have Cleo in his life.

“Of course, Lewis. I love you, I will always be here for you.” Cleo says softly as she places her other hand on top of their already interlocked hands.

“Is there anything else that has been on your mind lately? You know that you can tell me anything, right?” Cleo adds, and suddenly Lewis’ small good mood begins to fade as dread starts to set back in again. 

Lewis evades Cleo’s gaze once more as his heart starts beating faster out of nervousness. He isn’t sure how to respond to Cleo’s question. Lewis can’t keep lying to Cleo, he knows that she will see right through him. Plus, she deserves to know the truth, and she would be the most understanding and caring out of all of their friends, Lewis is sure of it. 

Even though it’s only been a week, it has been torture keeping his new merman status a secret from everyone in his life, let alone trying to pretend life is going on like normal, as if one drop of water couldn’t ruin everything. Maybe sharing the secret with someone would help make it a little easier? Even before Lewis knew about mermaids, Cleo, Emma and Rikki has each other. They never had to deal with their secret alone. That probably made it a lot less scary. With that in mind, Lewis impulsively starts to speak, all of his fears gone just for a moment.

“Yeah, there is actually. Something happened to me last week, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you...” Lewis begins to explain, returning his gaze back to Cleo, who is looking at him with curiosity and concern.

“What is it?” Cleo asks breathlessly, having no idea what Lewis might possibly say.

“Well, you see, I’m actually kind of a-“ Lewis continues to explain, completely confident in telling Cleo the whole truth, but is suddenly interrupted by a loud commotion at the entrance of the Juicenet cafe. Lewis and Cleo turn to look towards the entrance and see Emma, Rikki, Ash and Zane all walking over to them with grins on their faces, Zane appearing to be laughing at some sort of quip that Rikki just told.

“Hey! You guys are already here! Great!” Ash says enthusiastically as the group make their way over to Lewis and Cleo’s booth. Without waiting for permission, they all cram into the booth with Lewis and Cleo, who both exchange a slightly disappointed look with each other.

“We were thinking of heading down to the marine park. There’s apparently a really cool dolphin show on today. Want to come?” Emma asks Lewis and Cleo cheerfully. Emma’s smile fades ever so slightly as she Lewis’ eyes seem to widen with fear while Cleo just looks hesitant.

“Um, actually, Lewis and I were just in the middle of talking about something. Maybe some other time, Em. I can see the dolphins whenever I want anyway, considering I work there.” Cleo replies apologetically.

“Are you guys talking about what happened at school yesterday? Apparently there was some sort of explosion with the beakers in the chemistry lab. Is that why you ran out, Lewis? Did you get spooked?” Zane asks, leaning forwards as he does so, suddenly paying more attention to the conversation instead of just talking with and holding Rikki close to him, watching her happily.

“No. No, nothing like that. It doesn’t matter anyway. I think we are done here. I’ve gotta go anyway, my brothers want me back home to help them with something. Enjoy the marine park.” Lewis hurriedly answers, standing up from the table and begins to try and move past his friends. Everything comes crashing down on him at once. It was a stupid idea to try and tell Cleo about his secret today, especially in the cafe. What the hell was he thinking?

“Wait, Lewis, you were in the middle of telling me something! It sounded important!” Cleo exclaims, reaching out her hand and trying to grab Lewis’ wrist to stop him from walking away. She is very confused by his sudden change of emotions, and frustrated by the fact that he clearly was going to tell her something significant before their friends interrupted them.

“I’m sorry Cleo, I have to go. Everything is fine. I told you everything I needed to. Go and enjoy the marine park.” Lewis insists, finally managing to get out of the booth as the group stare at him with confusion and suspicion.

“But, I-“ Cleo fries again, but is suddenly cut off by Lewis.

“Just drop it, Cleo! I said I was fine!” Lewis finally snaps and shouts loudly at his girlfriend, much to everyone’s shock, including his own. Lewis immediately starts to feel the weight of guilt drop into his stomach as he sees Cleo flinch slightly while the hurt, sadness and shock appear on Cleo’s face, whereas the rest of his friends simply frown at him, probably judging him. The merman’s heart aches, hating how everything has become one giant disaster for him within the span of just a week. As much as he wants to put the entire blame for everything solely on Mako Island and the full moon, the only person he can really truly blame for all of this mess is himself.

“I’m sorry. But I really have to go...” Lewis sighs sadly before rushing out of the cafe as fast as possible, leaving Cleo and the others staring after him in shock and confusion.

“Okay. Can someone tell me what in the hell was that?” Zane asks exasperatedly, gesturing towards the door wildly.

“I don’t know... but I’m really worried about him, now more than ever. I don’t think he’s lying about being stressed about school and his grades, but there’s something else going on that he’s not telling me, but I don’t understand why. We used to be able to tell each other everything.” Cleo answers in almost a mumble, still hurt and in shock from the way that Lewis snapped at her. He as never done that to her before. What could be going on to make him this on edge? Cleo feels almost afraid to find out.


	13. Lack of Concentration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you enjoy the new chapter :)

The next three weeks are really awkward for the group of friends. Lewis and Cleo can barely look at each other, let alone speak to each other, which deeply concerns their friends. Lewis and Cleo have always been the power couple of the group, but now it looks like they’re starting to fall apart. But why? What could have gone so wrong between the two of them when they seemed so happy?

Currently though, the group of six are studying in the school library, as they have a biology test coming up tomorrow. It’s worth 25% of the overall grade, so they all know it’s vital that they do well. Thankfully, the group seem to have put their differences aside in order to study. Despite the awkward atmosphere between the friends, no one wants anyone to fail.

Cleo glances up from her text book, gazing around at her friends. Ash and Emma are talking quietly to each other as they go through the practice exam together while Zane and Rikki are just silently reading their notes to themselves. Cleo then looks over to Lewis, quickly noticing that he hasn’t turned the page of his text book for at least 10 minutes, and he’s not writing any notes down. He doesn’t look like he’s concentrating on his study at all. 

Usually, Lewis is the one helping others study, especially for the science and maths subjects. Today however, Lewis can’t even focus on his own studies, just staring down at his text book blankly, his hands clenched into fists.

Cleo wants to say something to him, but she just doesn’t know what to say that could help. Whatever is up with Lewis, he definitely hasn’t been willing to share that with her or the rest of their group so far. It frustrates Cleo to no end, as she was so close to getting a proper answer from Lewis at the Juicenet cafe a few weeks ago, before their friends came barging in. Why did Lewis suddenly decide he couldn’t say anything? Why has he been actively avoiding Cleo lately? Has she done something wrong?

Cleo hurriedly looks away as Lewis finally looks up from his text book and notices the mermaid staring at him. Cleo glares down at her own textbook, feeling flustered and embarrassed as she can feel her face heating up. Without looking up from her textbook, Cleo knows that Lewis is still watching her. Cleo tries her best to continue reading through her text book and jotting notes down in her exercise book, but in the end she decides it’s impossible to concentrate in such an awkward atmosphere, knowing that Lewis is still staring at her. Cleo has had enough, she’s definitely not getting any more study done here at school. She has to leave.

“I have to go, Dad wants me back to cook dinner. I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Good luck with your studying,” Cleo announces as she quickly snaps her books shut, stuffing them into her bag and then stands up, getting ready to leave. Everyone glances up at her in surprise.

“Are you sure? We could just quickly run through some practice exam questions if you want.” Emma frowns at her friend.

“Well, if Cleo gets to go now, then I should get to leave as well! It’s not like I’m going to pass Year 12 anyway!” Rikki huffs in annoyance, throwing down her pen onto the table.

“Uh, not so fast, Rikki. You don’t know you’re going to fail, so don’t give up just like that. At least finish your notes before you leave.” Emma scolds as she picks up the pen and hands it back to Rikki, who groans in annoyance, but reluctantly stays in her seat and takes the pen from Emma. Cleo chuckles in amusement at her two friends’ bickering. Some things will never really change.

“Yes, I’m sure, Emma. I think I’m feeling as prepared as I could ever be for tomorrow anyway. I’ll finish those practice questions when I get home. I’ll see you later.” Cleo insists as she swings her bag onto her shoulders, walking away from her friends and towards the exit of the library. 

As she leaves the library, Cleo sighs in relief, happy to be finally out of there. The tension was so thick around that table Cleo swore that she was about to explode. And, considering her powers, that would not be good for any drink bottles that students may have had in the library... which in turn would be terrible for Cleo, Emma and Rikki.

Cleo continues her way out of the school and begins walking towards her house, deep in thought about Lewis. She knows something is wrong, but how can she find out what that is? For a fleeting second, Cleo wonders maybe the reason Lewis is being so sketchy around her is because he’s seeing someone else. That thought terrifies and haunts Cleo, not sure if she could handle that much heartbreak. Cleo then quickly shakes her head, dismissing the thought as rapidly as it came. It’s a ridiculous notion, she doesn’t even know why that fear popped into her mind. Lewis would never cheat on Cleo... would he? ‘No, of course not,’ Cleo reminds herself firmly. Lewis is not that type of person. 

Cleo sighs as she continues walking through the streets, still contemplating what to do about Lewis. Could there be anyone that might know what is going on with him? His brother, Lenny, is fairly close with Lewis, if Cleo recalls correctly. Maybe she’ll give him a call and see what’s up. Lewis did mention that there were some family issues at the moment. Maybe they’re more serious than Cleo was lead to believe. The mermaid chews her lip worriedly as she walks, still no closer to actually knowing what’s going on and what caused Lewis to snap at her at the cafe a few weeks ago.

Eventually, something does pull her out of her spiralling thoughts, but unfortunately for Cleo, it’s nothing good. Thunder booms overhead, making Cleo jump a little. She glances up at the sky, only just now realising how dark the clouds have become, no hint on sunlight shining through anywhere. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Cleo realises that it’s just about to rain. There’s probably going to be a storm for that matter. This is not good, she’s still at least 10 minutes away from home. 

Cleo can’t risk continuing on her way home. What would she do if she got caught out in the rain and was stuck flopping around on the ground as a fish? Doctor Denman might finally get what she has always wanted after all; a mermaid to experiment on. The thought makes Cleo shiver, goosebumps appearing on her arms and neck as fear washes over her. 

There’s another boom of thunder and the wind starts to pick up around Cleo. Whatever she decides to be the next best move, she needs to decide fast. Cleo glances around her desperately, searching for a decent shelter to stay under to wait out the storm. Unfortunately, nothing really sticks out to her amongst the rows of houses. She highly doubts that the owners of any of these houses would appreciate Cleo standing on their front porch to wait out the rain. 

Before Cleo can do anything else, there’s another boom of thunder and a flash of lightning and suddenly rain starts falling from the sky, drenching Cleo almost instantly. Queensland storms can be quite sudden and intense, even on the Gold Coast. 

“Great...” Cleo grumbles to herself, not having any choice now except to dive into the canal. With no time to lose, Cleo runs towards the canal as fast as possible, praying that she will make it in time. Thankfully, there is no one else around at least. Cleo is sure that it would look super concerning seeing someone dive into the water and not resurface.

Just before her 10 seconds are up, Cleo reaches the bank of the canal and immediately dives into the water, transforming into her mermaid form just as she fully submerges into the water of the canal.

Cleo sighs in relief, incredibly glad that she made it to the water in time. Now that she is out of danger, Cleo smiles, happy to be back in the water again. It always helps clear her head. Instead of going home, Cleo decides to swim to Mako Island. Who knows how long the storm will last anyway?

After Cleo scans the water around her for a few moments, taking note of where the docks are and where the boats are floating in the water, presumably tied to the docks while her brown hair swirls and curls around her in the water’s current, Cleo begins to flip her coppery gold and orange tail, speeding off towards Mako Island with a swirl of bubbles surrounding her.

As Cleo continues swimming towards Mako at a speed that shouldn’t even be possible, her heart races with excitement. Cleo begins to forget about all of her worries and fears awaiting for her back on land. Cleo’s worries and fear are now replaced with happiness, excitement, joy, thrill and adventure as well as a sense of calmness, all of these rolling through her body like waves. 

Before she became a mermaid, Cleo never thought she could ever feel this free and at one with her surroundings, especially the ocean. Even with all of the complications that comes along with it, Cleo knows that her life has become so much better now that she is a mermaid. She gained some of the best friends anyone could ask for in the entire world, got brave enough to start going out with Lewis and has gained more confidence in general. She feels like she has become a better person. Cleo wouldn’t trade this new life of hers for anything.

~~~

9am Wednesday morning comes around a lot faster than Lewis would like. He knows he is absolutely not ready for this biology test. Lewis has tried to study for it for weeks, but his mind has been way too preoccupied with the whole merman business lately. Not that he can explain that to his teacher, unfortunately. It’s a shame that there isn’t a medical note from the doctor excusing someone from school for suffering from half fish syndrome. Lewis inwardly chuckles at the thought of actually being excused from the test because of doctor approved merman complications. Perhaps in an alternate universe, that could be a reality...

However, Lewis is not in that ideal reality. Instead, Lewis will just have to try and wing it. Not that he really has any choice now, considering he is currently sitting in class with the test paper right in front of him and a pen in his hand, waiting for the test to begin. Lewis looks around him for a moment, taking a look at his classmates to scope out how they are feeling. Most seem a little nervous, but not particularly freaking out. As for his friends, Emma and Cleo look confident and determined, while Rikki and Zane look like they have been defeated already, and Ash’s expression is too hard to read from where Lewis is sitting.

“Alright class, your time starts now. Please turn over your test paper and begin writing. You have one hour.” The biology teacher announces as she sits down at her desk. The students all around Lewis quickly turn over their test papers and get to work. Lewis hesitates for a few moments, not sure how this is going to go. Lewis wishes that he could find an excuse to bail and do the test another time, but he knows that will only get him into more trouble.

“Better get started, Lewis.” The teacher says warningly, giving Lewis a pointed look as she notices Lewis still staring at the board, pen in hand, test paper untouched. Lewis gulps nervously and nods before looking down at his test paper and turns it over. ‘Well, here goes nothing,’ Lewis silently tells himself, deciding that he just needs to dive into it. He’s a scientist studying the unexplainable, slowly making progress on it. He should be fine on one simple biology test... right?

Of course, the test goes terribly. Not only does Lewis not know the majority of the answers, his mind begins to wander once again back to his new secret lifestyle. Which he still hasn’t told Cleo or anyone else about yet, and now fears that he’s too late to tell anyone. What if Cleo and his friends got mad at him for keeping this information to himself for so long? He also fears that they’ll be angry at him for allowing this to even happen in the first place. Having a tail was always just a Cleo, Emma and Rikki thing. Lewis doesn’t know if they would be super keen on him joining the fish tail club. 

Besides, Lewis doesn’t want to add more stress to any of their plates; it’s hard enough for them to stay out of water danger. They probably wouldn’t cope having to deal with helping someone else stay dry as well. Overall, it’s just better if Lewis handles this new, scary part of his life on his own. At least for now, anyway. 

Then there’s the whole issue of the next full moon, which is only a couple days away now. Oh god. Lewis is absolutely dreading what that night is going to bring. He still has a tiny thread of hope that maybe he won’t be effected by the moon like the mermaids are, but he knows he can’t rely on that. Until Lewis has experienced a full moon to know for sure, he has to assume that he can get moonstruck. It’s a terrifying thought.

Lewis thinks about all of the times that the mermaids have been moonstruck, and it’s like they’re possessed. It’s super creepy from an outsider’s perspective, and Lewis is sure it’ll be just as bad experiencing it. Not being able to remember an entire night where you cause heaps of trouble would be horrible. Lewis’ free hand that is lying casually on the table starts to curl up into a fist as anxiety and fear starts to consume him. 

Lewis tries to keep a control of his breathing, not wanting to go into a full blown panic attack. He needs to finish this damn biology test, and there’s no point panicking days before the full moon anyway. It’s not like Lewis can just stop the full moon from happening. Life keeps on moving forward, and so does he. Lewis takes a deep breath, clears his mind of all thoughts and then refocuses onto the test, not allowing himself to get distracted again.

Needless to say that when the end of the test comes around and Lewis hands his paper up to the teacher, he knows deep down in his gut that this test result is going to be the worst result he has ever had in his entire life.

Lewis sighs sadly, resigning himself to his fate, packs up his things and moves on to his next class without even acknowledging Cleo or his friends, not in the mood for talking right now.


	14. Trouble Brewing

“Lewis! What is this? You got a C minus on a biology test?! You’ve never gone below A minus the entire time you’ve been at school! What is going on?!” Kelly McCartney exclaims in shock, unable to believe the paper that she is holding her hands.

“Um... I guess there’s a first time for everything?” Lewis responds weakly. Kelly groans, running a hand through her hair in distress.

“And hey, technically C minus is still a pass... technically.” Lewis adds, hoping that it’ll help soothe the blow. Kelly stares at her son with bemusement, extremely unimpressed.

“Really, Lewis? Just because it’s technically a pass makes it okay? You’re so much better than this! I thought you were starting to get on track with your school work, Lewis. This is your last year of school; this is where it all counts. You’re capable of so much more than barely a pass, especially in science!” Kelly continues to say, unable to comprehend why Lewis doesn’t seem too phased or surprised by his test grade.

“I know, Mum... I’m sorry... I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately...” Lewis attempts to apologise to her.

“I’m really disappointed in you, Lewis.” Kelly sighs while shaking her head in defeat. Having nothing else to say about the matter, knowing that Lewis will be mentally beating himself up over this, Kelly then hands back the test paper to her youngest son and walks out of the living room, leaving Lewis standing there alone. Lewis looks down at the test paper in his hand, extremely frustrated with his poor results. However, it is exactly what Lewis was expecting. His mind was all over the place during the test, plus he hadn’t studied. Lewis knows he’s lucky that he managed to scrape by with the C minus. Hopefully Lewis can pick up his grades in the other tests, assignments and end of year exam so that his overall grade for Biology and chances at getting into university aren’t totally ruined.

“Ugh. What a way to ruin a Friday night,” Lewis grumbles to himself as he sits down on the couch, tossing the stupid test result to his side. He hadn’t expected to get his results back so soon; he was trying to take some time and plan out what to say to his mum to ease the blow a little bit. Oh well, doesn’t matter now. To be honest, Lewis thinks his mum didn’t react too badly, all things considered. She must know that he has been going through a tough time and is cutting him some slack without investigating the issue too much, which Lewis is immensely grateful for.

“Hey, what was all that about? Why did Mum storm up to her room?” An annoyingly familiar voice catches Lewis’ attention. He glances over to the living room door and sees Lenny entering the room, walking over to Lewis. Lenny sits down next down to Lewis with a concerned, but curious look on his face.

“Oh, uh, it’s nothing, Lenny. Don’t worry about it.” Lewis hurriedly tries to brush the issue off, not really wanting to hear Lenny’s opinion on his test grade at the moment. Lewis has a feeling that Lenny’s reaction would be more severe than their mother’s reaction.

“Oh, come on bro, you don’t seriously expect me to believe that, so you?” Lenny raises an eyebrow at his youngest brother sceptically.

“Look, it’s not a big deal. I can handle it.” Lewis tries again, huffing slightly out of annoyance.

“Just tell me what happened, Lewis. You’ve been keeping too many secrets lately. I’m not leaving until you tell me what happened with Mum.” Lenny frowns, refusing to back down so easily this time. He has a right to be concerned about his little brother and making sure that he’s not in any trouble.

“Oh my god, fine! I got a C minus on my biology test from Wednesday, okay? It’s no big deal, I’ll pick my grades up again!” Lewis concedes in annoyance, knowing that Lenny isn’t going to drop this issue. Maybe if he tells Lenny about the grades, Lenny won’t bug him about the other secrets in Lewis’ life right now? It’s worth a shot, anyway.

“What?! That’s not like you at all... even when you’re struggling with school, you’ve always managed to do well in the past.” Lenny comments in shock, not knowing how this could be possible. Lewis has never gotten lower than an A minus before. Something has to be seriously wrong, and Lenny needs to find out what that is right now.

“What’s changed, Lewis? I know it’s not just because you’re behind in schoolwork, or struggling with the content. There’s something else going on, isn’t there? I know we’ve had this conversation before, but you can tell me anything, Lewis. I’m your brother, and I will always love you and be here for you. Just let me help you, please.” Lenny says as he places a hand on Lewis’ shoulder. To Lenny’s surprise, Lewis quickly pushes Lenny’s hand off his shoulder and then stands up and moves away from the couch, glaring down at Lenny.

“There’s nothing going on! I’m fine.” Lewis hisses, sick and tired of everyone asking him the same questions over and over again.

“That’s bullshit and you know it! Why did you run off when we had a similar conversation a few weeks ago? I’m sick of this shit, Lewis! The lying and the secrets have to stop! Maybe you can fool Mum, Zac, Daniel and Jacob about what’s going on, but you can’t fool me!” Lenny responds aggressively, standing up from the couch also.

“God, do you really not have anything better to do other than annoy me right now? Get a life, Lenny!” Lewis snipes back at his brother, trying very hard to keep his composure, but it is becoming harder and harder to control at this point.

“Ha! Wow. Okay, sorry for being a good brother and trying to look out for you. Didn’t realise you didn’t want people to actually care about you.” Lenny scowls while Lewis rolls his eyes.

“Enough with the games, Lewis. Out with it. Tell me why you’ve been acting so shady this past month. Don’t keep saying it’s nothing, because it’s obvious from a mile away that it’s not nothing.” Lenny demands, taking a step closer to Lewis.

“I can’t, Lenny! Just drop it! I can’t talk about this with you, or anyone else!” Lewis finally responds in a yell, perhaps being a little bit more truthful than he would have liked.

“Why not? What is going on? Why haven’t you told Cleo?!” Lenny yells back, a little shocked that Lewis hasn’t even told his girlfriend about what has been bothering him lately. That sets off even more alarm bells in Lenny’s mind.

“Is it another girl? Are you seeing someone else?” Lenny asks in a quieter tone.

“What? No, of course I’m not! Why would you even suggest that?!” Lewis cries out angrily, harshly shoving Lenny away from him as his older brother tries to move closer to Lewis

“Well, what else would you not want to tell even your girlfriend about then? What else could it be?!” Lenny retorts, determined not to back down.

“It doesn’t matter! It’s none of your business!” Lewis growls, hating that Lenny is bringing Cleo into this. 

“You’re my brother! Of course it’s my business!” Lenny yells back in exasperation, not understanding why Lewis refuses to tell him what’s going on. It makes Lenny truly believe that Lewis has gotten himself into some serious trouble, and at this point, Lenny is scared for Lewis’ safety. What if he has been caught up in illegal activity? What if he is doing drugs? What if something happened to him when he’s either out alone, or home alone? Maybe someone broke in? Maybe someone attacked Lewis? Or, perhaps since he has not been fishing this past month, or gone near any water for that matter, maybe there was some sort of incident out on a fishing trip? The possibilities are endless.

“Just leave me alone, Lenny!” Lewis shouts angrily, almost ready to flee the house again, not wanting to deal with this stupid argument any longer.

“Hey! What the hell is going on?!” Jacob calls out from upstairs, and in within a few moments, Jacob, Zac, Daniel and Ms McCartney all join the two feuding brothers in the living room.

“Nothing, it’s fine.” Lewis sighs while shaking his head a little, starting to calm down again.

“Really? Because it doesn’t sound like nothing.” Kelly frowns as she gazed around the room at all of her sons.

“Yeah, you two are honestly behaving like children. Lewis, you’re 17. Lenny, you’re 23. Try and solve your issues in a more civilised manner. You guys used to be able to do that, so what’s changed?” Zac pipes up while folding his arms across his chest, glaring pointedly between both Lewis and Lenny.

“I just want to know the reason behind Lewis’ bad grades. He’s the one getting super defensive about it.” Lenny huffs, rolling his eyes a little.

“Wait, Lewis is getting bad grades? What? How? He’s the genius of the family....” Jacob asks in shock.

“It was just one bad test, okay? I’ll make sure it won’t happen again.” Lewis sighs in frustration, running a hand over his face.

“Yelling at Lewis isn’t going to help, Lenny. I’m sure Lewis is feeling bad enough about his grade. This is just a learning curve for Lewis, and I know he will be able to quickly improve his grades in no time.” Kelly says while glancing between Lewis and Lenny, hating to see them fight like this. The two used to be so close... what happened?

“Whatever. Whenever you’re ready to talk about what’s really going on, we are here for you, Lewis. I’m here for you. I just wish you knew that we all love you and are here to help you through anything.” Lenny concedes, knowing that this conversation isn’t going anywhere, and the fact that the rest of their family is now here definitely doesn’t help. If Lenny is going to find out the truth about what is going on with Lewis, he is pretty sure that he can’t do that with the rest of their family.

“I’m going out to meet with some friends. I’ll be home later.” Lenny announces after a few moments of awkward silence. Without another word, Lenny hurries out of the living room and out the front door, not waiting for anyone to protest.

~~~

It is now Saturday morning, and the mermaids have met up with Lewis at the Juicenet cafe in their usual booth. Things are awkward to say the least, no one knowing what to say and can hardly look at each other. Lewis eventually decides to break the silence.

“So... are you guys ready for the full moon tonight? What are you guys doing for it?” Lewis asks the group curiously. Cleo glances up at Lewis sceptically, raising an eyebrow slightly.

“Why does it matter to you all of a sudden, Lewis? You’ve hardly spoken to any of us in the past few weeks. I get that you’re busy catching up with school work, but come on. A little communication would have been nice.” Cleo replies harshly, causing Lewis to wince slightly.

“I’m sorry... I just... I knew I wasn’t going to do well on that biology test, and I was right. I barely passed. I hate myself for it; this isn’t like me at all. I have been really behind in my studies lately, and I have been desperately trying to catch up. But you’re right, I should have talked to you guys more. Especially you, Cleo. I’m sorry.” Lewis sighs apologetically.

“Oh, come on, I’m sure your version of barely passing is like an A minus.” Rikki scoffs and rolls her eyes.

“Actually, I got a C minus, if you must know.” Lewis replies a little snappishly, turning to look at Rikki. Everyone stares at Lewis in shock.

“Seriously? You’re not joking?” Rikki asks while raising her eyebrows in surprise.

“Why would I joke about this? My family and I got into a huge fight about it last night.” Lewis responds half heartedly.

“Oh, Lewis, I didn’t know... I’m so sorry... are you okay?” Cleo asks worriedly as she reaches her hand out across the table and holds Lewis’ hand in her own.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I just have to really step up my game so that my biology grade at the end of the year isn’t a total bust. I’ll be fine.” Lewis gives a small nod in response.

“Why do you think that happened? Did you not study enough?” Emma frowns, wanting to try and get to the bottom of this so she can work with Lewis to get his grades up again. Her and Lewis have always been the most focused on schoolwork, and usually are at the top of all of their classes. Even with all the mermaid business in the past couple of ears, Lewis has managed to keep his grades up, so why are they starting to slip now?

“I don’t know, I guess I just wasn’t focusing properly.” Lewis shrugs nonchalantly, not really knowing what else to tell his friends. Lewis clears his throat before continuing to talk.

“Anyway, as I was saying. What are you guys doing to prepare for the full moon tonight?” Lewis asks after clearing his throat, changing the subject and bringing the conversation back on track.

“Well, we are having a sleepover at my house again this month. My parents are away on a business trip and Elliot is staying at a friend’s house. Cleo’s dad and sister are going to be staying at home tonight, so it makes more sense for the three of us to be at my place.” Emma explains before taking a sip of her smoothie.

“Yeah, Kim would definitely expose us to the moonlight, and possibly exposing us as mermaids, and we really don’t want that, obviously.” Cleo adds, scowling slightly at the thought of her nosy little sister always trying to ruin Cleo’s life in one way or another.

“Not that you need to worry about any of this, Lewis. We have it all sorted, just like we did last month.” Rikki says while glaring at the geek with a smug look on her face.

“Haha. Well, in that case, I shouldn’t be expecting any calls from any of you tonight asking for my help then.” Lewis smirks, leaning back in his seat and folding his arms across his chest.

“We weren’t going to call you anyway, we have this under control. Just go enjoy fishing tonight or something.” Rikki retorts. 

The smirk on Lewis’ face starts to fade as his worry, fear and sadness begins to overtake him again. Lewis will never be able to go fishing again. He would not be able to stop himself from getting splashed. Fishing was the one thing that has always kept Lewis calm and gave him a well needed break from the real world. It was also a favourite past time between him and Lenny. It’s just another thing that will continue to drive Lewis and Lenny apart, which really saddens Lewis. He always felt like he could tell Lenny anything... well, before he became a fish boy that he is. As for the full moon, Lewis doesn’t even want to think about the disasters that will cause in his life from now on.

“Lewis? Are you okay?” Cleo frowns worriedly, noticing Lewis’ expression change dramatically. Her boyfriend glances at her and nods a little too rapidly.

“Yeah. I’m totally fine. Just think I’m coming down with a cold, that’s all.” Lewis says in an attempt to take suspicion off him, and even let’s out a fake cough to try and prove his point. The girls continue to just stare at him with concern, disbelief and suspicion. Lewis isn’t really surprised that they don’t buy his excuse; he wouldn’t either.

“I-I’ve gotta go. Good luck with tonight,” Lewis stammers as he quickly stands up and moves his way out of the booth, grabbing his things and hurrying out the cafe without another word.

~~~

Later that day, Cleo is pacing around in her bedroom, fiddling with her braid nervously. Once again, Lewis was acting really strangely at the cafe and left in such a hurry. What is he hiding from them? What is he hiding from Cleo? Has Cleo done something wrong and hadn’t realised it? What if something happened between the two of them on a previous full moon and it has completely freaked Lewis out? Why is he so afraid of talking to them about it?

Cleo sighs sadly to herself, running a hand over her face stressfully. Cleo knows that she can’t figure this out by herself. Since Lewis clearly isn’t going to talk to her, Cleo needs to find someone else who might know what is going on. Cleo looks down at her watch, gasping when she sees what the time is. The day has seemingly just run away from her. The moon will be up in a couple of hours, so Cleo needs to make her way over to Emma’s now, just to be safe. She doesn’t want to be caught outside when the full moon rises. Who the hell knows what might happen then. Cleo stops pacing and quickly gathers up her things that she has packed to take to Emma’s for the night and hurries out of her room and down the stairs, making her way to the front door. Just before she gets there, however, Kim stops her in her tracks.

“Just where do you think you’re going?” Kim asks suspiciously, arms crossed firmly against my chest.

“To Emma’s house, for a sleepover. Now get out of my way.” Cleo rolls her eyes and shoves her sister to the side, making her way to the front door.

“There aren’t going to be any boys at this sleepover, are there, Cleo?” Kim smirks, eyes lighting up at the thought of being able to get Cleo into trouble.

“No, there isn’t, Kim! Just stay out of my business, okay? I have to go!” Cleo exclaims in frustration as she opens the front door and begins to exit the house.

“Something weird is going on. You’ve been acting weird for years now, and no one believes me.” Kim scowls auspiciously. Cleo stops in her tracks, turns back around to face Kim and rolls her eyes once again.

“You’ve been acting weird your whole life, Kim. No wonder no one believes you. Just because I hang out with my friends a lot doesn’t make me weird.” Cleo retaliates before closing the front door, not wanting Kim to argue back with her. Cleo doesn’t have the time nor energy to deal with her extremely annoying younger sister right now. Cleo has to get to Emma’s, and she will give Lenny McCartney a call on the way. 

Cleo hurries down and out of her front yard and begins walking down the street, heading towards Emma’s house. As she continues to walk, Cleo pulls her phone out of her pocket and scrolls through her contacts until she finds Lenny’s number. The mermaid presses the call button and holds the phone up to her ear, waiting for Lenny to answer.

“Hello, this is Lenny McCartney speaking.” A voice on the other end of the phone finally answers.

“Hi Lenny, this is Cleo Sertori, Lewis’ girlfriend. I was just calling you to ask how Lewis has been doing lately. He’s been acting really weird, and I’ve hardly seen him nor have I spoken to him much. Is there something I should know?” Cleo responds worriedly. There’s silence on the other end of the phone for a few moments, making Cleo’s worry grow even more.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Lewis as well. I think he’s hiding something from the both of us...” Lenny eventually replies.

“Tell me everything.” Cleo demands determinedly, wanting to get to the bottom of all of this once and for all.


	15. Accusations

Lewis hurries towards Emma’s house, every now and then glancing up at orange sky; worryingly noting that the sun has almost set and the full moon will start to rise very soon. He knows he shouldn’t be out this late, as Lewis is pretty certain that the full moon would most likely effect him in a very similar way to the girls. However, the text he had gotten from Cleo 20 minutes ago said that they needed to talk, urgently, and to come to Emma’s house. Despite the risks, Lewis couldn’t help himself. He needed to get to Emma’s and find out what’s wrong. 

Even though he has his own secret to worry about now, Lewis still prioritises his friends’ secret above his own. Which of course has made the past month a complete and utter nightmare, as he struggles to take care of himself as well as Cleo, Emma and Rikki. He hopes that whatever Cleo wants to talk to Lewis about won’t take long. He doesn’t particularly want to be at Emma’s house after the moon rises. He wouldn’t be able to leave, it would just be too risky. Lewis doesn’t want his friends to find out about his secret whilst being moonstruck. Besides, he would just become a massive liability at Emma’s house, just another person that needs protecting from the moonlight. Lewis also doesn’t want to add extra pressure to Zane and Ash. At least Cleo, Emma and Rikki have had experience with the moon, while Lewis has only been an outside observer, and is terrified of having to actually experience one himself.

Finally, Lewis reaches Emma’s house, whose parents and brother are thankfully all out for the night. Lewis is relieved to finally arrive at the house, as he was beginning to think that this was a completely terrible idea and that he might not make it in time. Lewis hurries towards the front door and knocks quickly. After a few seconds, the door opens and reveals an unimpressed Rikki. She eyes Lewis up and down, her gaze cold and hard, making him feel a little nervous and squeamish.

“Cutting it kind of close, aren’t you, Lewis? Cleo is upstairs in Emma’s room,” Rikki eventually says as she stops examining Lewis like he’s a specimen under a microscope and steps aside, allowing Lewis to walk over the threshold and enter the house. As Lewis enters, Rikki closes the door behind him.

“You know that it wasn’t locked, right? You could have just come in yourself. It would have been safer that way too, in case you didn’t get here before the moon rises.” Rikki adds, her tone underlying with annoyance and disgust, which leaves Lewis feeling a bit confused. What has he done recently to piss Rikki off like this? He’s never seen her look at him with so much distaste.

“Oh, uh, sorry. I’ll try and remember that for next time,” Lewis stammers an awkward apology before rushing up the stairs towards Emma’s room. Once there, Lewis opens the door breathlessly. The first thing that he notices is that all of the windows have been covered in cardboard and duct tape, much to Lewis’ relief. Lewis then steps inside the bedroom, and turns to quickly shut the door behind him. Once the door is closed, Lewis turns back around to see Cleo sitting on Emma’s bed, knees being hugged to her chest while wearing a devastated, yet angry expression on her face. Lewis also notes that it looks like she has been crying.

“Cleo, are you okay? What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Lewis asks hurriedly as a wave of fear washes over him, terrified that Cleo has been hurt somehow. He rushes over towards the bed, and attempts to sit down next to Cleo and put an arm around her shoulders, but she shoves him away abruptly with a disgusted look on her face. Lewis is shocked, confused, hurt and taken aback at this, wondering what the hell is going on.

“Uh, did I do something wrong?” Lewis frowns in confusion, scratching his head and fiddling with his mess of blond hair (which he really needs to get cut as it is too long and always in his face, Lewis decides) awkwardly.

“I don’t know, you tell me.” Cleo scowls as she hops off the bed and stands up, glaring at Lewis furiously. Lewis can’t help but wince under her glare. 

“Can you at least give me a clue as to what’s happening right now?” Lewis asks, feeling completely and utterly lost. 

Cleo rolls her eyes, annoyed that Lewis wants to play dumb. She thought he would respect her more than that.

“I called your brother, Lenny, today. I hadn’t heard from you in a while, so I thought that Lenny might know what you were doing and if there were more family arguments. Apparently, none of your brothers have seen you around much at all lately.Lenny also told me that a few weeks ago, you ran off after an argument between the two of you and didn’t come back until the early hours of the morning. Lenny almost called the police. He figured that you must have been with me, which we both know you haven’t been around much with me either. I’m surprised you’re even here now.” Cleo answers coldly, and Lewis’ heart skips a beat, and his stomach feeling like it has dropped into the floor. ‘Has Cleo figured it out? Is she really that angry about me being a merman?’ Lewis wonders fearfully to himself.

“You asked me to be here, so I came. You seemed upset, and clearly you are.” Lewis replies, shifting on his feet uncomfortably.

“Of course I’m upset! You’ve been seeing someone else, haven’t you?! That’s why you’re suddenly so secretive, avoiding me, never home, lying to me, and your friends, and your family! I’m sure you’re lying about your schoolwork too, huh? In reality, you’re just spending all of your time with some new girl!” Cleo bursts out angrily, tears welling up in her eyes once again.

“Wait, what?!” Lewis exclaims in disbelief, eyes wide in shock, all worries and thoughts about the impending full moon completely forgotten. Lewis’ eyebrows shoot upwards further than they have ever been before. Lewis was not expecting Cleo to jump to that conclusion. He was completely expecting Cleo to know that he has a tail now, just like her. Lewis doesn’t know if he would have preferred for Cleo to actually figure out the real reason why Lewis has been acting weird or not, but certainly any other conclusion would have to be better than her thinking Lewis is cheating on her. Has he really been that suspicious? He clearly isn’t as subtle as he thinks. Lewis is not a great liar, and is even worse around Cleo. He hates it, and he hates the fact that his behaviour has led to his girlfriend thinking the worst.

“No, no, Cleo, you don’t understand...” Lewis tries to begin while shaking his head in disbelief, still trying to comprehend what’s happening right now. It at least explains Rikki’s cold behaviour to him earlier.

“What is there to understand, Lewis?! I wish you just could have manned up and told me! What’s her name, huh? Is she pretty?” Cleo yells out as she paces the room with her arms folded across her chest while tears continue to pour down her face.

“Cleo! Cleo, Just listen to me for a minute, okay? Please?” Lewis interjects before Cleo can start saying anything else, and walks over to the mermaid. He gently places his hands on her arms, stopping Cleo in her tracks, no longer pacing. Cleo continues glaring daggers at Lewis, causing his heart to pang. He worries that when he does tell Cleo the proper truth, she will be just as angry as she is now. Would Cleo ever be able to forgive him?

“What?” Cleo spits out angrily, but Lewis can hear the heartbreak underneath the hostility, and it makes Lewis’ own heart feel like it’s shattering as he sees Cleo like this. Lewis’ breath hitches in his throat for a moment, his eyes becoming slightly watery, causing his vision to blur, and Cleo’s expression softens ever so slightly at that.

“I would never cheat on you, Cleo. There’s no one else for me. It’s just you and me. Lewis and Cleo. Forever and always. I love you so much Cleo, and I’m so so unbelievably sorry that you thought I could have betrayed you like that.” Lewis begins, his voice shaking a little with sadness and distress, but he hopes that Cleo can hear hear truth in his voice. Cleo doesn’t say anything, continuing to stare at Lewis distrustfully.

“Please, Cleo, you have to believe me. I love you more than anything; you mean the world to me. I don’t want to lose you, not again...” Lewis pleads desperately as tears start to roll down his cheeks while keeping his hands on Cleo’s arms. Cleo’s expression softens once again, but more tears start to stream down her face.

“If there really isn’t someone else, then why have you been acting so weird lately? Why have you been avoiding me? Why haven’t you been home?” Cleo sniffles, trying to regain some sort of composure. Lewis sighs before speaking again.

“Look, I’m not going to lie to you, okay? Not anymore. You have to know that I have absolutely hated lying to you, but I panicked and I didn’t know what to do. I figured if I told you the truth, that you would hate me. It’s stupid, and I’m so sorry. I completely understand why you’re mad at me, and if you want to break up with me, I understand that too.” Lewis begins, still keeping a gentle hold on Cleo’s arms. Much to Lewis’ surprise, she hasn’t pulled away from him yet.

“That doesn’t give me confidence in you, Lewis.” Cleo frowns once again, staring at Lewis with suspicion.

“I know, I know... I really shouldn’t have gotten myself into this mess the first place...” Lewis sighs dejectedly, finally letting go of Cleo’s arms and rubbing his face with his hands, feeling completely overwhelmed and stressed right now. This is not what he wanted to be ever happening in his life. Why him? Why did Lewis have to be so stupid to go to Mako Island that night in the first place? 

Suddenly, Lewis feels warm, soft and delicate hands wrap around his, lowering them away from his face. Lewis looks up and sees Cleo gazing at him, still looking upset with tear stains on her face, but she appears to be more calm and somehow believing the crap that Lewis is trying to say, when she has absolutely no reason to. Lewis knows that he doesn’t deserve someone as good, kind and understanding as Cleo, and he would not blame her if she wants to walk away. Lewis then feels Cleo squeeze his hands tightly and reassuringly.

“If it really isn’t because of someone else... then why have you been acting so weird, Lewis? It’s not because of your family, and I highly doubt it is purely because of school work. We can tell each other anything, remember? You can trust me.” Cleo says in a quiet, but serious voice. Lewis gulps nervously.

“This whole thing has gotten out of control and I just want to reiterate that I’m really, really sorry that I made you believe that I found someone else. That is the furthest thing from the truth, believe me. But you’re right though, something has been happening to me, and honestly? I’m... still trying to process it myself at the moment. I-I don’t... I mean, I’m not... well I guess I’m just not ready to deal with it yet. I’m slowly trying to process it, but it will still take some time. I tried to tell you a couple of weeks ago, before our friends interrupted us, and I realised I wasn’t ready yet. Once I’ve gotten a better handle on it, I promise I will tell you, okay? You deserve to know the truth, it’s not fair for me to keep it from you, no matter what you may think of me afterwards.” Lewis tries to explain, his heart racing in his chest. He feels like everything is on the line right now as he waits for Cleo to respond.

Cleo stares at Lewis thoughtfully, trying to figure out if he’s lying. He has always been a terrible liar, especially with Cleo. It’s how she even realised something was wrong in the first place. However, as Lewis is talking to her now, Cleo doesn’t catch even an inch of unease, or any of the usual tells that Lewis has while lying. Of course, it’s clear that he’s very uncomfortable and scared of something, but Cleo knows for sure that Lewis isn’t lying. His eyes are filled with sadness, sorrow, guilt, and a desperation for Cleo to believe him. Cleo’s heart breaks a little just by the amount of pain in his eyes right now. The mermaid can’t believe that she could even think that Lewis would cheat on her. Lewis is just not that type of person. However, she reminds herself not to beat herself up over it, because what else was she supposed to think with the way Lewis has been acting lately? Cleo takes a step closer to Lewis, and looks deeply into his ocean blue eyes.

“Okay... I believe you. I believe you, Lewis. Whenever you’re ready to tell me what is really going on with you... I’m here for you, just like you have always been here for me. You know that. Whatever it is that’s going on, we can get through it together. I love you so much and you mean the world to me. Nothing will ever change that, okay?” Cleo finally says, meaning every single word. Cleo feels her eyes stinging again, but this time, she knows it’s because of her relief that her worst fears hadn’t come true. Cleo gives Lewis a reassuring smile as she continues to hold onto his hands.

“Thank you, that really means the world to me right now.” Lewis replies, breaking out into a smile as fresh tears roll down his face. His body feels numb and giddy; Lewis hadn’t realised that he was holding his breath while waiting for Cleo to answer, and that he was fearing the worst. But thankfully, Cleo believes him, and still loves him. Lewis feels that it’s too good to be true. She even is allowing Lewis some time to figure out how exactly to break the news to her and the rest of their friends about Lewis’ recent... changes. Lewis couldn’t be happier right now. He pulls his girlfriend into a a warm hug, both of them holding onto each other tightly and whispering reassurances to each other.

After several minutes, allowing enough time for the two teens to calm down, Cleo and Lewis pull out of the hug, wiping their last tears away from their eyes as they beam at each other, both of them almost feeling like this whole ordeal has brought them closer together. ‘Maybe Cleo won’t be too mad about me being a merman after all,’ Lewis thinks happily to himself, deciding to hold onto that hope.

“I’m glad we sorted that out,” Lewis sighs in relief, his heart feeling whole again now that Cleo isn’t upset with him.

“Me too.” Cleo agrees, tucking a lock of her wavy brown hair behind her ears. It’s a habit that Lewis finds adorable.

“I’m sorry if the others were rude to you when you came in, by the way. I, uh, told them my suspicions about you. I’m sorry. I should have talked with you about it first, before telling Rikki and Emma without solid proof...” Cleo sighs, hanging her head in shame. Lewis chuckles and gently lifts Cleo’s head back up to look at him, and he caresses her face for a moment, admiring how beautiful Cleo is.

“It’s okay, I deserved it. Rikki definitely looked mad, and I didn’t even see Emma.” Lewis grins, and Cleo gives him a small smile in return.

“Might as well go downstairs and explain to everyone that you didn’t cheat and I was totally wrong and jumped to conclusions. Rikki will be annoyed because she spent so much time convincing me everything was fine, but after I told her about how I called your brother and explained your weird behaviour again, she eventually agreed with my suspicions.” Cleo says, making her way to the bedroom door, holding Lewis’ hand in hers. 

“I’m just glad we talked about it. I hate it when people in movies or tv shows have a simple misunderstanding, but because they don’t talk about it, they turn it into a huge drama. It’s so annoying. Why can’t people just talk it out?” Lewis replies with an exasperated hand gesture, causing Cleo to giggle. Cleo opens the bedroom door and walks out, still holding onto Lewis’ hand.

Lewis quickly follows along with her lead, more than happy to sort the misunderstanding with his friends out now, but he knows eventually he will have to admit the full truth. Slowly though, he’s starting to feel okay with that fact. His friends wouldn’t just turn him away now that he’s changed, right? Lewis doubts it. Surely their friendship with Lewis means more than that. And even if Emma, Rikki, Zane and Ash for some reason aren’t super okay with it, Lewis knows that he will at least always have Cleo here for him. That much he is certain of, and he hasn’t felt this certain since the whole Mako Island business began for him and his friends a few years ago. 

Unfortunately, as both teens have been very distracted by the emotional and honest confrontation, neither Lewis nor Cleo have realised that the full moon has risen.


	16. Clearing things up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Last chapter post for the year! I’m so glad 2020 is finally coming to an end! It has been nothing but chaos. Here’s to hoping that 2021 will be slightly less disastrous 😀
> 
> I will definitely be updating again early in the new year, I have many chapters already written out that I’m excited to share with you all. I’m also thinking of creating a schedule where I update this story once a week. At this point in time, I’m thinking I will start regularly posting on Mondays.
> 
> Happy new year everyone, and enjoy the chapter! Things are about to get interesting!

“Wait, so he’s not cheating on you?” Rikki asks with a raised eyebrow whilst leaning against the kitchen counter, her arms crossed. Emma stands next to Rikki, both of them staring at the couple in front of them, still a bit confused about the whole situation.

“No. But I should have realised that Lewis wouldn’t do something like that. I’m sorry for accusing you, Lewis. I feel really bad.” Cleo apologises to her boyfriend once again, looking up at Lewis sadly. Lewis puts an arm around Cleo and pulls her close, kissing her on the forehead.

“It’s okay Cleo, I understand. As I said before, it was totally reasonable for you to think of the worst when I was acting the way I was. Don’t blame yourself,” Lewis reassures his girlfriend kindly, which causes Cleo to smile bashfully back at him in appreciation.

“Pfft, I don’t know why I somehow believed your suspicions, Cleo. Lewis is not a smooth guy, and he had trouble even asking you out. Then with Charlotte, she basically bullied him into a relationship with her. There’s no way he would even be able to ask another girl out, even if he wanted to. Cleo is his only choice.” Rikki smirks smugly, causing Cleo to chuckle a little as Lewis glares pointedly at the fiery mermaid.

“Hang on. There’s still something that I don’t get. If you haven’t been cheating on Cleo, then what has been going on with you lately?” Emma frowns, now thinking that Cleo was probably right to be concerned about Lewis a few weeks ago. Emma grows even more worried when Cleo and Lewis exchange a hesitant look before Cleo speaks up.

“Just schoolwork stuff, he is getting a bit behind because he has been trying to do a lot of research for us lately, to try and make our lives easier.” Cleo says hastily, sensing that Lewis doesn’t really want to talk about what’s going on yet. There’s no need to get their friends involved now; Cleo thinks it’s better to just wait until Lewis is ready to talk.

“Okay... well, Lewis, you know we are always here for you. And of course we appreciate everything you do for us, but please remember that you matter too. Sometimes, you have to look after yourself.” Emma relents, although she doesn’t quite buy Cleo’s story. However, she decides to let it slide for now, not wanting a dramatic night. Especially on a full moon.

Suddenly, the doorbell rings, causing the four teenagers to jump in surprise. 

“God, it’s like they don’t even know that the moon is up already,” Rikki mumbles under her breath as Lewis walks towards the front door to open it and see who is ringing the doorbell. Considering the text that she just got from Zane, he and Ash have arrived and bought pizzas along with them.

Lewis, unaware that the full moon has risen due to being occupied with his conversations with Cleo and then with the others, unlocks and opens the door to see Zane and Ash standing there with pizza boxes in their hands.

“Sorry we’re late. Got caught in traffic,” Zane explains to Lewis, giving the scientist a friendly pat on the back as he walks past him and into the house. He begins greeting the others, but more specifically, Rikki.

“Hey Lewis, good to see you again, man. How are you? Haven’t seen you around much lately.” Ash greets Lewis with a friendly smile.

“Yeah, I’m alright, just been busy with school work and stuff,” Lewis shrugs nonchalantly. Ash gazes at Lewis with a frown for a small moment, knowing that there has to be more going on than just school work, just as Cleo had mentioned to him a couple of weeks ago. However, Ash figures Lewis will talk about whatever it is when he’s ready. Ash doesn’t want to push it.

“I hope you like meat lovers or pepperoni pizza, cause that’s what we got.” Ash grins, pushing aside his worry for his friend, and then enters the house, following after Zane. Just as Lewis is about to close the door again, he catches sight of the full moon’s reflection in the brassy door knob, making Lewis freeze instantly, his mind completely blacking out.

~~~

“Zane, that was so stupidly risky! You shouldn’t have come here tonight! The full moon has already risen, and you could have accidentally let any one of us see the moonlight! You’re lucky that Lewis answered the door, and that I stuffed pillows in all of our faces!” Rikki exclaims in annoyance as she throws her pillow down to the ground when she thinks it is safe to do so.

“Wait, when did the moon rise?” Cleo asks in confusion, lowering her own pillow away from her face.

“While you were upstairs talking with Lewis.” Rikki answers the brunette, continuing to glare at Zane, who gazes back at Rikki with an apologetic smile and a small shrug.

“I’m sorry, we were meant to drop by earlier, but then we decided to go grab pizzas. On our way back here, we got caught in traffic. You’re right though, we should have been more careful. I’m really sorry, Emma.” Ash apologises with a sigh, placing the pizza boxes down on the kitchen counter. 

“Chill out guys, no one got hurt, right? Even though I forgot about the door being unlocked for us, I did send Rikki a text in advance, notifying her that we were coming. So at least I thought of that and you guys got a little time to prepare.” Zane attempts to ease the small amount of tension in the room a little, as well as try and convince himself he didn’t just put his girlfriend in danger.

“You wouldn’t be telling us to chill out, or have such a laid back attitude if one of us got moonstruck. I hope you both realise that neither of you can leave now. It’s too risky.” Emma retorts with a scowl aimed at Zane as she throws the pillow onto the living room couch. She still does not 100% trust Zane after what happened with Doctor Denman. However, Emma does trust Rikki, so she manages to slightly tolerate Zane for her. To Zane’s credit, he does seemed to have changed for the better, but it’ll still take some more time for Emma to fully trust Zane again.

“Pfft, chill out, Em. I’m sure Lewis would have gone to the door and shielded you from the moonlight if I didn’t send the warning message to Rikki anyway. Or even if someone else for some reason was knocking at the door. Right, Lewis?” Zane adds, glancing over his shoulder to get some back up from the blond geek. To Zane’s surprise, Lewis is still standing by the open front door, staring intensely at the door knob that he’s holding in his hand.

“What’s he doing?” Rikki asks the group with a confused frown as the rest of the teenagers focus their attention on Lewis as well.

“Lewis, close the door! We can’t risk letting any moonlight in!” Emma calls out warningly to her friend, who is still staring down at the door knob, not moving even an inch. From where Emma is standing, it’s like Lewis hasn’t even acknowledged that Emma has spoken to him at all.

Ash is the first that starts walking over to Lewis, suggesting that the girls stay back, not wanting them to accidentally see the moon’s reflection.

“Lewis, are you okay?” Ash asks tentatively as he makes his way over to the boy standing at the front door. As Ash gets closer, he notices that Lewis’ eyes are completely transfixed on the moon’s reflection in the brass door knob. Lewis doesn’t look up as Ash approaches, nor does he react when Ash speaks. A funny feeling starts gnawing in Ash’s stomach. He can’t help but think something is very wrong. On the other hand, Lewis might just be joking around with them, pretending to be moonstruck like the mermaids can be if they see the full moon. However, Ash doubts that this would be something that Lewis would joke about. Full moons are no joke, and almost always cause an almost endless trail of chaos.

“Lewis...” Ash tries again as he reaches out a hand and puts it on Lewis’ shoulder. For a moment, Ash doesn’t get a response from his friend. Thankfully though, after a few seconds, Lewis seems to snap out of whatever trance-like state he was in and turns towards Ash, blinking in confusion.

“What? Yeah, I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be fine?” Lewis replies defensively, taking Ash aback a little bit.

“Why were you starting at the door knob?” Ash frowns in confusion and worry.

“I wasn’t. I was just thinking about stuff.” Lewis responds quickly, and then he moves away from the door, and back into the open planned kitchen, dining and living room area. Ash watches Lewis for a moment, once again getting the feeling that something is deeply wrong with his friend, but can’t quite put his finger on what it could be.

Unable to come up with any reasonable answers, Ash sighs defeatedly and pulls the front door closed before making his way back over to his friends.


	17. The Full Moon

Half an hour later, everyone is sitting down on the sofas in the lounge room as they watch the horror movie ‘The Ring’. The pizza that Ash and Zane brought over with them is quickly being devoured by the group of teenagers. Almost everyone is having a good time, somewhat forgetting about the full moon and Lewis’ strange behaviour. Almost everyone. Currently, Lewis is sitting on the edge of the sofa next to Cleo, sweating nervously. He keeps looking around the room, as if he’s expecting something to jump out and grab him. Cleo finally begins to notice Lewis’ odd restlessness and asks if he’s alright.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just need a drink,” Lewis replies a little snappishly before he stands up and hurries into the kitchen. Emma, Rikki, Ash and Zane exchange confused looks with each other before shrugging and turning their attention back to the movie, believing that Lewis is just being his quirky self. 

Cleo however, can’t stop worrying about Lewis. Even in the dimly lit room, Cleo noticed that he was beginning to sweat quite a bit and had gone quite pale. He also seemed to be getting very jumpy and anxious. Come to think of it though, Cleo is feeling a little sweaty as well. For some reason, it seems to be getting more and more humid inside the house by the second.

“Hey, Em? Could I turn the air conditioner on? It’s getting a bit humid and stuffy in here,” Cleo asks as she gets up from the couch, wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead as she does so.

“Yeah, of course. It is strange how it has gotten humid in here all of a sudden, though. It’s like the humidity has come out of nowhere.” Emma replies as she glances down to the crook of her elbows, noticing the small droplets of sweat beginning to form. Cleo nods in acknowledgement before hurrying out of the living room and rushes up the stairs. The brunette makes her way to where the thermostat sits on the wall in the upstairs hallway. She quickly turns the air conditioner on and then hurries back downstairs to her friends, where Rikki is getting up from the couch.

“I’m gonna go bring out some more snacks. What does everyone feel like?” Rikki asks the group.

“Popcorn!” Ash suggests with a grin.

“Chocolate!” Zane adds enthusiastically.

“Um... I’ll just have my celery sticks, thanks. I may not be a competitive swimmer anymore, but I still feel like I have to eat like one,” Emma shrugs sheepishly.

“Ugh. You’re no fun,” Rikki teases her before walking towards the kitchen, where Lewis is standing completely still in front of the fridge with the door wide open.

“Yo, Lewis, hurry up and pick a drink. Don’t just stand there with the door open like an idiot.” Rikki says as she playfully nudges Lewis in the ribs. Lewis, however, doesn’t react to Rikki’s jibe, like he usually does. That’s the first thing that sets alarm bells off in her head that something is wrong. 

“Lewis, what are you doing?” Rikki frowns as she taps on her friend’s shoulder, but quickly pulls away as Lewis jumps, crying out in surprise as he spins around and faces Rikki with wide and fearful eyes. Rikki takes in Lewis’ appearance, noticing that he is definitely sweating more than anyone else, and his skin appears to be more pasty than usual. He seems to be breathing heavily as well.

“Woah, dude, what’s wrong?” Rikki asks in concern, wondering if Lewis is coming down with some sort of illness. Hearing shuffling noises from behind her, Rikki glances over her shoulder to see that everyone else has made their way into the kitchen to check out what’s going, concern and confusion written across all of their faces.

“There’s too much condensation in the fridge,” Lewis tells his friends, sounding alarmed.

“Yeah, I think that’s kind of the point of a fridge,” Zane responds sarcastically, but winces as he earns an elbow into his side from Emma.

“Lewis, are you okay?” Cleo asks calmly, slowly stepping towards her boyfriend, Rikki moving aside for her.

“No! It’s a full moon! How can anything be alright? What if I can’t protect you guys?!” Lewis exclaims loudly in distress, almost at a yell, causing Cleo to jump back in surprise. Lewis begins pulling at his hair and starts pacing back fourth in the kitchen. 

“Lewis, calm down, okay? We’re fine, we’ve sealed off everywhere that could possibly let in moonlight. Just takes some deep breaths with me-“ Emma begins to say, but she is suddenly cut off by the sound of the soft drink bottles on the dinning table suddenly exploding; the carbonated drinks spitting upwards like rockets and splashing everywhere. 

"What the-" Zane begins to say but is cut off, the sink taps suddenly turn on and water begins to spurt out of the kettle. Things get even weirder when the fridge even starts to rumble and shake about, threatening to surge forwards and fall over. The group stare around the kitchen in disbelief, still struggling to process the exploding drinks on the dining table. Great. Now there are more things to be concerned about. 

“What the hell is happening?!” Ash exclaims in shock, looking around the kitchen and dining room in confusion.

“Cleo, Rikki, are either of you doing this? Did one of you accidentally see the full moon?” Emma asks, suddenly reminded of Rikki’s first full moon where she lost control of her powers. With all of the sudden chaos and confusion, no one is noticing how Lewis is backing away from the scene, a look of horror and guilt in his eyes.

“It’s not me,” Cleo replies with a confused shrug.

“It’s not me either...” Rikki frowns. Suddenly, the water still being spurted out of the kitchen sink tap turns into a large tendril of water that begins to rise up into the air, making everyone take a few steps backwards nervously.

“Cleo, do something!” Rikki hisses as she stumbles backwards into Zane, trying to get away from the water. Cleo nods quickly and then turns her attention to the water tendril. The brunette reaches out her hand and concentrates, twisting her hand a little, as if she was opening a jar. To her horror, nothing seems to be happening to the water tendril, which only continues to grow larger and slowly moves towards the group. Cleo continues twisting her hand around, staring intensely at the water tendril, but despite her focused efforts, the water remains out of her control.

“Cleo!” Emma cries out, backing into the corner between the intersecting counter tops just as the tendril suddenly twists and curls around in front of her, blocking her only way of escape. She attempts to freeze the water tendril, but only manages to freeze a small part of it, and it keeps floating towards her. Emma winces as her back digs into the corner of the kitchen bench top.

“I-I can’t! I’ve tried, but it’s like the water isn’t responding to me!” Cleo cries out in surprise and fear, having never experienced this before.

“What?!” Zane yells in disbelief, as he jumps in front of Rikki to protect her from the water tentacle. Just as Ash is about to do the same for Emma, all of the floating water suddenly drops onto Emma, causing her to shriek in shock. Coincidentally, everything else going crazy in the kitchen and dining room stops at the same time as the water drops. 10 seconds later, Emma transforms into a mermaid, flopping forwards towards the floor. Thankfully, Ash rushes forward and catches her before she hits the hard tiles. 

“Are you okay, Em?” Ask in a concern, setting Emma down into a comfortable position, with her back up against a cupboard door of the kitchen counter.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just wasn’t expecting to get splashed, that’s all.” Emma sighs, flicking her tail ever so slightly in frustration. Ash watches in fascination, loving the way his girlfriend’s orange and copper tail seems to glisten and shimmer.

“Guys... why did everything stop going crazy all at once? And where’s Lewis?” Cleo asks nervously, backing out of the kitchen, not liking this at all. Rikki quickly dries Emma off, and Ash helps her to her feet.

“More importantly, why is it so humid in here? I feel like my lungs are going to be filling up with water hanging in the air soon.” Zane asks, wiping a waterfall of sweat on his forehead and fanning his shirt out to get some air flow around him.

“Cleo, Rikki, are you sure neither of you saw the moon?” Emma asks wearily.

“Yes, I’m sure! I don’t have the power to control water, do I?” Rikki responds exasperatedly.

“It’s not me either! I couldn’t even control the water back there!” Cleo exclaims, hands flailing wildly.

“Then who could have possibly done this?” Ash asks worriedly.

“Well, it’s not Emma, Rikki or me, so that leaves... but that’s not possible... is it? Unless... oh my god...” Cleo gasps, talking herself through the puzzle, trying to figure out every possibility until one hits her with the force of an out of control truck.

“What? Who is it, Cleo? What’s wrong?” Rikki asks anxiously.

“Lewis! It has to be Lewis!” Cleo says breathlessly as she runs a hand through her hair. All of Lewis’ strange behaviour makes sense now! He must have went to Mako Island last month, even though he said didn’t. Somehow, he got into contact with the moon pool water. How did Cleo not realise this sooner? Why didn't Lewis tell her?

“What? How can it be Lewis?” Zane scoffs incredulously. Cleo ignores Zane and pushes past her friends and runs into the living room, where Lewis has backed up into a corner, looking terrified and wracked with guilt, still sweating profusely and way too pale for Cleo’s liking.

“Lewis? Hey, it’s okay. It’s me, Cleo. I’m here to help you.” Cleo says as she slowly walks over to her boyfriend, vaguely aware of her friends watching from somewhere behind her.

“It’s my fault,” Lewis whispers shakily, a single tear rolling down his face.

“What’s your fault?” Cleo asks gently, not wanting to cause Lewis to do anything rash.

“Doctor Denman. Charlotte. Falling behind at school. Failing to protect you. Lying to all of you. All of the appliances and drinks going crazy... I can’t control it. I can’t control anything in my life...” Lewis responds, his breathing becoming more and more shaky by the minute, as if he’s on the verge of a panic attack.

“Lewis, just calm down and take a deep breath, and we can sort this out.” Ash speaks up from behind Cleo, raising his hands up to show his distressed friend that he means no harm.

“We can help you, Lewis.” Emma agrees reassuringly. Lewis shakes his head rapidly, a fearful expression on his pale face.

“No, you can’t help me. This is all my fault! We are all in danger because of me! I can’t stop this! I can’t stop anything! I can’t do anything! I’m a useless liability!” Lewis shouts, and before anyone else can intervene, Lewis shoves past everyone and runs out of the house, not bothering to close the door behind him.

“Lewis, wait!” Cleo yells out and begins to rush towards the front door, but she feels a hand clasp around her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. Cleo turns to face a disapproving Rikki.

“Are you crazy? If you go out there, you’ll be moonstruck!” Rikki scolds her friend.

“I have to help Lewis! He needs me!” Cleo argues, yanking her wrist out of Rikki’s grip.

“Cleo, Rikki’s right. It’s too dangerous for you guys. Zane and I will go and find Lewis and bring him back inside.” Ash reasons with brunette mermaid, stepping forwards.

“Well, go then! You can’t let him get away!” Cleo cries, panic crawling her way down her throat and all the way to her stomach. 

“On it!” Ash nods and then grabs Zane by the arm and rushes out of the house, pulling Zane along with him. They spot Lewis running towards the dock at the back of Emma’s house.

“Lewis! Hold up!” Ash yells and runs as fast as he can after Lewis, trying not to panic.

“Lewis, where the hell are you going?!” Zane shouts as he too runs after Lewis, feeling utterly confused about what is going on. What did Cleo mean when she said that it must be Lewis? He doesn’t have powers, does he? Surely not. Zane figures he must have misheard or misunderstood what Cleo had said.

As Ash and Zane finally make it down to the dock, they try to dive forward and grab hold of Lewis, but they’re just a second too late. As they fall to the ground grasping at thin air, the two boys watch in shock as Lewis dives into the water and doesn’t resurface.

“Lewis!” Zane shouts as he scrambles to his feet, searching the dark water for the usually happy-go-lucky geek, but can only see the small waves, and the full moon being reflected off the water.

“He’s gone, Zane.” Ash sighs as he gets to his feet as well.

“Gone where? What the hell happened?” Zane asks, turning towards the horse rider.

“Well, I’m guessing he was moonstruck.” Ash concludes while wiping the sweat off his forehead.

“Moonstruck? But that’s only a thing that the mermaids experience...” Zane trails off, the truth finally dawning on him. Zane’s widen in surprise.

“Holy shit. Is Lewis a fish boy?” Zane asks, completely gobsmacked, although thinking back on it, Lewis’ behaviour a couple weeks ago at school makes more sense now.

“I... guess so? Come on, we gotta get back to the girls.” Ash replies, and with that, the two boys rush back up towards the house. Once they’re inside and close the door behind them, they’re completely breathless.

“What happened? Where’s Lewis?!” Cleo demands to know as she walks over to Ash and Zane, with Emma and Rikki following close behind her.

“He, uh, dove into the water...” Zane announces, still puffing as he continues to try and get his breath back. He really did run as fast as he could to catch up to Lewis, but he just wasn’t fast enough. He was so close too, and the closeness of it frustrates Zane.

“He what?! And you just let him go?!” Cleo asks incredulously.

“What were they supposed to do, Cleo? They couldn’t exactly go in after him, could they?” Rikki says, in an attempt to try and calm her friend down.

“Well, I can!” Cleo retaliates confidently and makes her way towards the door, but Ash and Zane block her path while Emma and Rikki grab onto her shoulders.

“What are you guys doing? I have to get to Lewis! He could be in trouble!” Cleo exclaims angrily, shoving her friends’ hands off her shoulders.

“As soon as you step outside, you’ll be in trouble too! What’s the point in having two people moonstruck?” Emma reminds Cleo in exasperation.

“I don’t care, Lewis needs me.” Cleo growls as she tries to push past the boys, but they stand their ground.

“I’m sorry Cleo, but you have to stay here. It’s too dangerous for any of you to go out, and Zane and I can’t exactly follow Lewis. We’ll find him in the morning.” Ash says apologetically.

“Well, Zane, go get your zodiac and follow him! Lewis would for sure be heading to Mako Island! You have to go and calm him down! Who knows what will happen if his powers continue to be out of control!” Cleo turns on Zane, glaring at him with an intensity and fury that he never knew that Cleo had. It takes him aback for a moment, shocked at this new side of Cleo.

“I’m sorry, Cleo. I would if I could, but my zodiac is in the repair shop at the moment. It needs a new motor, along with a few other things.” Zane replies with an apologetic shrug.

“We can’t just leave Lewis out there all on his own! He wouldn’t let that happen to any of us!” Cleo continues to argue angrily, glaring around at all of her stubborn friends.

“We understand Cleo, but unfortunately that’s just not possible tonight. I’m sorry. Lewis will be okay.” Rikki tries once again to reassure her friend, but to no avail.

“How can you know that for sure, huh? Remember when you were moonstruck for the first time, Rikki? You burned Emma and almost killed Zane. Actually, you were definitely on your way to killing yourself as well!” Cleo retaliates, her voice seething with anger. 

For the next 20 minutes, the rest of the group try to convince Cleo that everything will be okay, and that they’ll go after Lewis in the morning, but Cleo just can’t calm down. Lewis needs her, she knows it. Cleo promised that she would be there for Lewis, but why isn’t she there with Lewis now? 

After a while, Cleo finally begins to stop yelling and starts taking deep breaths to recollect her thoughts. While her friends take this as a sign that she’s beginning to listen to their reason, the reality is that Cleo is planning on how to sneak out of the house later on without anyone hearing her.

“Okay, okay... we’ll look for Lewis in the morning...” Cleo sighs, feigning defeat, and she doesn’t miss all of the relieved expressions on her friends’ faces.

“Good. I’m glad we got that sorted. I know it has been an eventful night, but let’s just... continue watching movies. To try and take our minds off of our worries. Lewis will be fine.” Emma suggests, pulling the loose strands of her hair away from her face, feeling exhausted. Thankfully, everyone agrees and makes their way back to the living room, turn off the light, and jump back onto the couches to continue watching ‘The Ring’.


	18. Finding Lewis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I’m posting today since I won’t be available to post anything on Monday this week. However, by next week, I’ll try and go back and stick to the Monday schedule. Enjoy the new chapter!

For a while, everyone is silent and barely paying attention to what is happening in the movie as they all are still trying to process what the hell just happened with Lewis. After about half an hour though, things seem to go back to a slightly less tense atmosphere, with Rikki and Zane engaging in their own conversation while Emma is laughing at a joke that Ash just told. Cleo glances around her, double checking that all of her friends are preoccupied and aren't paying her any attention at all. When Cleo is certain that everyone is distracted, she casually get up off the couch, and pretends to make her way to the bathroom. When she is around the corner of the hallway and out of eyesight from her friends, Cleo then runs to the back door of Emma's house that leads straight down to their family's boat dock. She opens the door and sneaks out of the house as quickly and quietly as possible.

Once outside, Cleo carefully closes the back door, not wanting to make a noise. Cleo hesitates for a moment, wondering if she could possibly be making a big mistake by trying to face the full moon. She could end up just as out of control as Lewis. On the other hand, what choice does she have? She can't just go back inside and pretend that everything is fine. Lewis could be in big trouble as his powers continue to grow out of control. Additionally, since Lewis isn't in his right mind and wouldn't be too careful about where he transforms, what if someone saw him with a tail? Lewis' life would be over, and he wouldn't even remember how it happened. Cleo can't let Lewis go through any of that alone, even if it means risking her own safety.

Not wanting to waste any more time worrying about the potential risks that she is taking by trying to find her boyfriend, Cleo inhales deeply to calm herself down. The mermaid then quickly turns around to face the Gilbert's yard that leads down to the dock, not knowing what to expect from the full moon tonight. Of course, Cleo glances up at the moon that is shining brightly above her, casting an eerie glow on everything that the moonlight touches. Expecting to suddenly be waking up in her own bed not remembering anything after seeing the full moon, as has been her experience with many previous full moons, Cleo is definitely a little shocked, but certainly relieved to find that she is still in control of herself and not under the moon's spell. The curious part of Cleo wonders if the moon spell isn't working on her because she is so focused on and worried about Lewis. Or perhaps the moon wants Cleo to find Lewis as well? The real Cleo, that is. Deciding that she will have time later to figure out the answer as to why she isn't moonstruck, Cleo races down towards the dock without giving the full moon any more thought, pushing it to the very back of her mind.

"Don't worry, I'm coming, Lewis." Cleo promises quietly before she dives into the water, awaiting her transformation. 10 seconds later, Cleo's legs are replaced with the familiar coppery orange and gold tail that she has grown to love. Not wanting to waste any time, Cleo begins to swim to Mako Island as fast as possible.

~~~

Emma yawns tiredly and stretches a little before leaning back into Ash's side. The Ring is still playing, and it is nearing the end. Emma has seen the movie a dozen times before, so she has started to zone out. Instead, she listens in amusement to the murmured chatter Zane and Rikki are having about the movie, and how dumb the characters are to have gotten themselves into their current predicament. After a couple of moments, Emma realises that Cleo has been quiet this whole time, which is unlike her. Cleo is usually terrible with horror movies, and can get quite squeamish and scared sometimes, but Emma hasn't even heard a peep out of her.

"How's it going Cleo, are you hanging in there? I know horror movies aren't exactly your thing," Emma asks, somewhat absent mindedly as she takes Ash's hand in hers while his other hand plays with her hair. However, when Cleo doesn't hear a response, this pulls Emma back into a more alert state. Frowning in concern, Emma quickly sits up, pulling away from Ash once again and looks over to the spot on the couch where Cleo should have been. Instead, there's nothing there.

"What's wrong?" Ash asks Emma curiously.

"Where's Cleo?" Emma responds with her own question, noticing that Zane and Rikki are now looking over towards her and Ash with slightly confused expressions on their faces.

"She's probably just in the bathroom." Zane shrugs it off, not thinking too much of it. Not happy with settling for that excuse, Emma gets up from the couch and walks around the house, calling out for Cleo, but getting no answer. She checks both bathrooms and all the bedrooms, but Cleo is nowhere to be seen.

"Shit..." Emma mutters to herself as she smacks her forehead in frustration. She should have known Cleo would do this. Emma knew it was too good to be true for Cleo to just give up on looking for Lewis tonight. How could Emma be so stupid? Now two of her friends are missing! Emma rushes back down the stairs and back into the living room, where her friends are watching her with curiosity and worry.

"Cleo's gone. She must've went after Lewis." Emma announces breathlessly.

"What?! When? Why would she do that? It's too dangerous!" Rikki exclaims in surprise, standing up as she does so.

"I know as much as the rest of you do. Besides, are we really that surprised, Rikki? We should have seen this coming." Emma raises an eyebrow at Rikki, whose shoulders slump as she realises that Emma is right.

"So, what do we do?" Emma frets worriedly, beginning to pace the living room, biting her nails nervously; a habit that she picked up from Cleo years ago.

"You guys can't do anything tonight. We don't need anyone else going missing, okay? We will search for both Lewis and Cleo first thing tomorrow morning. If they manage to find each other tonight, they should be okay." Ash says as he walks over to his girlfriend and pulls her into a hug, which Emma accepts gratefully.

"Ugh, I hate feeling helpless like this!" Rikki grunts angrily, unable to believe how much has actually gone wrong tonight. Sure, she expected some mishaps, but this definitely was way more than she was expecting. They are all in over their heads.

"I'm sure they'll both be fine. Maybe Cleo managed to avoid the moon?" Zane suggests hopefully. Rikki stares down at her boyfriend with an incredulous look on her face.

"Seriously, Zane?" Rikki shakes her head in annoyance, knowing better than to get hopeful over something that almost definitely isn't happening. She learnt early on in life to expect the worst, so when the worst does happen, you can't be as disappointed.

"Look, there's no point of us just sitting around here moping all night and thinking the worst. That doesn't do anyone any good. Might as well try and stay a little bit positive. I don't doubt that Cleo will find Lewis. Maybe they're both moonstruck, maybe they're not. But they'll be together, and that's something." Zane replies as he stands up and places a hand on Rikki's shoulder.

"I guess so..." Rikki sighs, but she feels a little better with Zane's reassurance. She never thought Zane as the keep positive type of person, in this instance, she really appreciates that Zane is trying to be positive instead of joining Rikki in her pool of negativity and pessimism. Too much pessimism isn't healthy for anyone.

"I'm guessing no one is going to get any sleep tonight, are they?" Ash asks the group, and everyone shakes their heads.

"Well then, might as well make some coffee." Ash continues with a smile, trying to lighten the mood, and it appears to help a little. It's amazing what coffee, even just the mention of it, can do.

~~~

After swimming at an incredible speed for 12 and a half minutes, bubbles swirling all around her, Cleo finally begins to approach Mako Island. She decides to slow down as she approaches the reefs that lead towards the underwater entrance to the moon pool. As Cleo continues swimming, her body moving in one fluid motion, Cleo begins to wonder if Lewis would have even come to the moon pool. Surely he would have, right? Any time one of the girls had been moonstruck, they were always drawn to Mako. Why would Lewis be any different? Unfortunately, Cleo doesn't really know any of Lewis' circumstances, so at the same time, who's to say that he won't be going somewhere completely different under the moon spell? Cleo tries to push that worrying thought to the back of her mind, determined that she will find Lewis at Mako. If he's not in the moon pool, Cleo will just have to search the whole island: both the surrounding waters and the land.

A few moments later, Cleo swims up to the underwater moon pool entrance, and she feels waves of relief roll over her, feeling like she couldn't get here fast enough. Cleo flips her tail a little bit faster and enters the underwater tunnel as her heart rate starts to pick up in anticipation, wanting so desperately for Lewis to be here. Within another few seconds, Cleo swims into the familiar moon pool, and she smiles as a sense of belonging washes over her. Ever since she, Rikki and Emma became mermaids, Cleo feels like she has been connected to the island and the moon pool, and not just because of full moon nights. It feels like some sort of magic connection, tethering her soul to Mako Island, so that she'll always feel connected to this place and feel at home and at one with the island in the magic. It's a difficult feeling to describe, and she hasn't told anyone about it. However, Cleo assumes that Emma and Rikki must feel it too. And now, maybe even Lewis also feels that same connection. That thought makes Cleo's heart skip a beat in excitement. She hasn't really thought about it before, but now that it appears to be a possibility, Cleo is thrilled to be able to share the amazing beauty, wonder and magic of the ocean with Lewis, in ways that she couldn't before.

Cleo flicks her tail and begins swimming up towards the surface and once she resurfaces, she looks around quickly, scanning the area for any signs of Lewis. He certainly isn't in the moon pool itself is the first observation Cleo makes, but doesn't let herself be disheartened by this fact. Lewis can easily still be in this cave. Another thing that Cleo notices is that the moon pool is already starting to bubble, which is strange, considering that the full moon isn't above the volcano yet. This creates an anxious feeling start to swell up in her stomach.

Suddenly, Cleo manages to spot Lewis out of the corner of her eye; sitting at the very back of the cave, hidden in the shadows, with his knees pressed up against his chest and his head buried in his hands while he rocks back and fourth a little bit. She breathes out a sigh of relief, grateful that she has managed to find her boyfriend, easing her anxiety ever so slightly. Cleo then begins to see that Lewis' body shaking a little bit, and with a pang in her heart, Cleo realises that Lewis must be crying. Tentatively, Cleo swims over to the edge of the moon pool, trying her best not to startle and frighten her boyfriend.


	19. Moonstruck

"Lewis?" Cleo calls out softly, but she doesn't get a response. Hell, Cleo doesn't even know if Lewis is aware that she is even here. The moon spell can do some very crazy things after all, so Cleo wouldn't be totally surprised if Lewis is being tricked by the moon to believe that he is here all alone.

After only a moment of hesitation, Cleo places her hands on the rocky edge of the moon pool and begins to heave herself out of the water. It is extremely hard work; her arms shaking as a burning sensation flows through the muscles. Cleo puffs through the pain, and eventually manages to get half of herself out of the pool, while her tail continues to swish about under the eerily bubbling water. Cleo gasps and breathes heavily for about a minute, feeling completely exhausted. Lewis still doesn't show any sign of acknowledgement towards Cleo's presence. Once Cleo feels that she has managed to get her breath back enough, she uses all of her remaining upper body strength to wriggle her way forwards through the sand until her tail is completely out of the water as well, ignoring how the rocky ledge of the moon pool scrapes against her skin and scales.

"Ugh, why is this so hard? I really need to hit the gym," Cleo groans breathlessly as she rolls onto her back and gazes up at the volcano's cavernous walls looming up towards the throat of the volcano, which seems so far away from where Cleo is currently lying. On any other night, Cleo would have been content to just lie there and watch the stars dotting the sky above the opening of the volcano. Of course, this isn't any ordinary night. Cleo quickly props herself up onto her elbows and pulls herself into an upright sitting position. The mermaid dusts off the sand and dirt clinging to her arms and stomach to the best of her ability, but the water clinging to her skin also allows most of the dirt and sand to also cling there. Cleo sighs and decides to give up the pointless effort. She'll be dry soon, anyway.

"Lewis, it's me, Cleo. I'm here. It's okay, I promise. You're okay." Cleo tries to reassure her boyfriend confidently as she glances over her shoulder to see Lewis still hunched over and attempting to hide himself from the world around him, several meters away from Cleo. Once again, Cleo's heart pangs at the sight of Lewis, and she is filled with a fiery determination to get dry as quick as possible so she can go to Lewis and comfort him in whatever way that she can.

"Okay, Cleo, come on, you can do this." Cleo mutters to herself as she turns back her attention to her tail. She sits on the sandy ground in silence whilst staring down at the glistening droplets of water clinging to her tail for several moments as the mermaid tries to figure out what to do. Eventually, she comes up with an idea that she has never tried before. It's definitely a bit out there, and it might not work, but Cleo knows that she has to try. What has she got to lose from trying to transform back into human faster?

"Well, here goes nothing..." Cleo sighs as she lifts her right hand out in front of her, closing her eyes concentrating on all of the water molecules covering her body. She slightly curls her hand and then twists it as if she was opening a jar. Cleo continues the hand twisting movement for several seconds, trying to picture the molecules of water being pulled off of her body and up into the air instead.

"Come on..." Cleo mutters to herself, narrowing her eyes in concentration. Several more seconds go by before Cleo begins to feel a tingling feeling rush down her body. Cleo opens her eyes in a hurry, gasping in surprise she sees that she is fully dry and is back in her human form again, with a huge ball of water floating in front of her. She gently guides the ball of water over to the moon pool and drops it in carefully before lowering her hand once again. Cleo laughs victoriously and in disbelief. She had absolutely no idea that her plan was really going to work, but it's a skill that will definitely come in handy again in the future.

Refocusing her attention back onto the issue at hand, Cleo quickly gets up and hurries over to her boyfriend, kneeling down next to him. Hesitantly, Cleo reaches out and touches Lewis' shoulder. Thankfully, he doesn't recoil back or jump in fright, which gives Cleo some hope to continue trying to get through to him.

"Lewis, I know that you're scared right now. But everything that happened tonight... it wasn't you; it's just the effects of the full moon. I understand how you're feeling, I have been exactly where you are. Many times, in fact. But, you have always been there for me to help me through full moons, so let me be here for you now. You can't go through this alone," Cleo begins in a calm and reassuring voice, keeping her hand on Lewis' shoulder. She pauses for a couple of seconds, curious to if Lewis will choose to respond. When Cleo is only met with silence as more seconds pass, Cleo decides to just keep on talking.

"Can you tell me what happened to you that night? Did you fall into the moon pool?" Cleo probes gently, hoping that this won't push Lewis away from her even further than the moon already has. Thankfully though, he doesn't seem too upset by Cleo's question. Perhaps if asked by anyone else, moonstruck Lewis might have reacted differently, but Cleo will never really know for sure. Not that it really matters in the long run, anyway.

"I-I... I was collecting samples. Before the moon rose over the volcano, and also during the time the moon was overhead. I was collecting my second water sample of moon pool water when the moon was right above the volcano, and I dropped the vial and my hand slipped underwater..." Lewis mumbles so quietly that Cleo can barely hear him over the sound of the bubbling water behind her.

"Wait, so... just your hand touched the water?" Cleo asks in surprise, not expecting that. Huh. That means that even the smallest touch of moon pool water under the light of a full moon can completely change someone's life forever. Cleo feels sorry that Lewis had to learn that lesson the hard way.

"Yeah... pretty stupid of me, right?" Lewis responds with a dry laugh, still not lifting his head from his hands.

"Lewis, what has happened to you is not your fault. It was an accident, just as it was for Emma, Rikki and me." Cleo continues calmly, really hoping that she'll somehow get through to Lewis. She watches in dismay as Lewis seems to shake his head in disagreement. He then starts mumbling a bunch of random nonsense, Cleo only able to make sense of a couple of words: lies, betrayal, weak, Doctor Denman and Charlotte. He keeps repeating the same words over and over again as he continues rocking back and fourth with his head down, his small moment of acknowledging Cleo well and truly over. Cleo hates to see her boyfriend like this, and it's incredibly hard for her to not break down crying, just wanting the real Lewis back.

Several minutes pass, and Cleo hears the bubbling in the moon pool getting more violent, with water even splashing out of the pool, yet again despite the moon not being overhead of the volcano just yet. She figures that it must be Lewis' own powers causing that reaction. Suddenly, Cleo notices something that makes her heart crawl up into her throat due to a sickening panic and fear; for just the tiniest fraction of a second, Cleo swears that Lewis' entire body becomes water. The full moon is becoming too much for Lewis and is completely overpowering him, Cleo realises, and she suddenly feels like she's on the verge of losing Lewis forever. Cleo quickly grasps onto Lewis' shoulders and shakes him desperately.

"Lewis, wake up! I know that the moon is making you do this, but you need to be strong! Just look at me, Lewis! I'm here, and I'm not leaving you. I promised that I was going to be here for you, and I'm intending on sticking to that promise!" Cleo yells desperately as she continues to shake the blond haired boy, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Lewis!" Cleo screams in fear while letting go of his shoulders as his body once again becomes water, this time for a solid second. Cleo can hear the roar of the moon pool behind her, and she's honestly a little afraid to turn around and see what's happening with the moon pool water.

"Lewis! Look at me, just look up at me, please! I am not going to lose you, Lewis! I can't lose you!" Cleo cries as the tears stream down her face, body wracking with desperate sobs.

"I don't know why you feel so guilty for everything that has happened over the past few years and think you're a bad person, because you have never tried to do anything bad in your entire life. You're the best person I know, always looking out for others before yourself. I just wish that you could see what I see..." Cleo continues sadly, feeling completely helpless and powerless.

"I love you so much, Lewis. And you being a mer...man? Merman? That doesn't change anything! In all honesty, it might even bring us closer together, by allowing us to experience the true magic of the ocean and this moon pool together. You just have to take a leap of faith," Cleo admits truthfully while sniffling and wiping away some of her tears. Cleo winces as she watches Lewis become water once again, this time for a few seconds. She doesn't understand why this is happening. This is the worst the full moon has affected any of them. Maybe because Lewis is a merman, things are a bit different? Or maybe the full moon's power just keeps getting stronger? Cleo doesn't think she could deal with this sort of disaster every month. Hell, she can't even deal with this current one.

"Lewis, I promise you that it's okay. You're okay. We're okay. I'm here to help you, Lewis. You've helped me so much, so just let me help you now. Please just trust me!" Cleo cries pleadingly, caressing Lewis' face with one hand for a moment, and then she gently lifts his chin up from his hands, wanting her boyfriend to look at her. His eyes are closed, but Cleo can still see the fear and guilt written all over Lewis' face. Cleo whimpers as Lewis' body once more transforms into water. Each time this happens, it is lasting for longer and longer, and Cleo is terrified of what is going to happen to Lewis if she doesn't somehow stop this right now. What if she is already too late? What if Lewis is already gone?

"Lewis! Lewis, come on! Wake up! Please wake up! You have to wake up! Lewis!" Cleo screams in fear, terrified that she might be about to lose Lewis, the boy that she loves with all of her heart, forever.


	20. Breaking the Spell

Cleo's heart hammers against her chest at an alarming speed; she is honestly surprised that her heart hasn't completely burst out through her chest yet. Cleo has never felt more terrified in her life as she continues watching Lewis with horror, as he continues to slowly turn into water more and more. Cleo places a hand over her mouth to stifle a sob, her eyes stinging with the tears that are welling up in her eyes. Her cheeks are soaked in her tears, and they don’t seem to be slowing down. After a couple more moments of panic completely consuming and overwhelming the mermaid, Cleo finally decides that she needs to try and calm herself down a little bit. She can't help Lewis it she's in a complete state of panic. Cleo closes her eyes for a couple of moments and takes some deep breaths, and it helps her feel a little better. She's still extremely scared of course, but at least Cleo feels more in control now. Slowly, Cleo reopens her eyes and refocuses her attention back onto Lewis.

"Just open your eyes and look at me, Lewis. Forget everything else, okay? It's just you and me, just like old times. Nothing else matters." Cleo says with a slight wobble in her voice as she tries to keep calm for Lewis' sake.

Eventually, Lewis' eyes slowly flutter open, much to Cleo's relief. His eyes are filled with guilt, uncertainty and a blankness and coldness that Cleo has never seen in Lewis' eyes before, making the mermaid shiver a little at the sight. Cleo shuffles closer to her moonstruck boyfriend and leans her forehead against his, and Cleo closes her eyes for a moment.

"I'm right here, Lewis. I'm right here. I'm not letting you go." Cleo whispers reassuringly as she grips onto Lewis' shoulders again. Eventually, Cleo reopens her eyes and pulls back a little from Lewis, knowing that she needs to get him in the moon pool before Lewis is consumed even more by his powers. It somewhat reminds Cleo of what happened to Rikki many moons ago, and she hopes that the moon pool will help Lewis, like it did with Rikki back then.

"Lewis, listen to me. We need to get you into the moon pool, okay? It'll help you feel so much better, I promise. Especially as the full moon passes by overhead. There's no experience like it. You have to trust me. We're in this together." Cleo pleads desperately, staring deep into Lewis' confused ocean blue eyes. Suddenly, as if right on cue, Cleo notices that the cavern lights up in an eerie glow, and she turns to look at the full moon now at its highest peak over the volcano, and the moon pool water calms down a bit, but still continues to bubble, fizz and now sparkle and glow also. Cleo knows that she has to act fast. She stands up and gazes down at Lewis. The mermaid is surprised, but hopeful as she notices the blond haired boy continuing to watch her silently. Cleo offers out her hand for Lewis to take.

"We can get through this together, Lewis. I'm not leaving you. I would never leave you. Take my hand." Cleo says, remembering the times where Lewis held onto her hand to reassure her that he was there to help her. Cleo thinks back to the first time Lewis saw her as a mermaid and helped her out of the pool, as well as the time he saved her from the sharks when she ran away from home. She hopes that this gesture will stir up those memories in Lewis also.

The merman seems to consider it, looking from Cleo's face down to her hand and back again for a few agonisingly long seconds. Eventually, Lewis tentatively reaches his hand out and grabs onto Cleo's hand. Cleo smiles warmly in responds, and clasps Lewis' hand tightly in hers. Having no time to lose, Cleo quickly helps pull the still silent and fearful Lewis to his feet and leads him towards the glowing and sparkling moon pool. Cleo glances over to Lewis, who looks back at her, worry and fear still in his eyes.

"We'll jump together, okay? Like I said, we're in this together." Cleo promises with a firm nod. She then counts to three before jumping into the bubbling and glowing water with Lewis following closely behind her, their hands still interlinked tightly.

Cleo waits until she transforms into a mermaid before she swims back up to the surface, looking around for Lewis quickly. After a few seconds go by, Cleo begins to worry when Lewis still hasn't resurfaced. Cleo dives back underwater, and sees Lewis slowly sinking towards the bottom, his eyes closed. She also notices that his legs have been replaced with a scaly blue tail. Without hesitation, Cleo swims down to Lewis and hooks her arms under his arm pits, and begins swimming them both back up to the surface. When they both emerge from the water, Cleo makes sure to lay Lewis on his back, to continue floating in the glowing water without much help from Cleo, as he appears to be unconscious, his skin more pale than ever.

"Lewis! Lewis, come on, please wake up! Snap out of it!" Cleo shouts desperately as she glances up quickly and sees that the full moon has almost disappeared from sight. Cleo resorts to shaking Lewis again, needing to get some sort of response from him.

"Lewis!" Cleo cries one more time as the bright and mysterious full moon finally passes over the other side of the volcano top, causing the moon pool to return back to its normal state, the light in the cavern dimming dramatically. Cleo continues watching Lewis fearfully, terrified that she might have already been too late to save her boyfriend. Cleo continues to watch Lewis with baited breath, unsure of what to do now, feeling completely powerless. After another several painfully long seconds, Lewis finally takes a huge breath of air, his eyes snapping open in an instant. He looks around wildly, not knowing where he is or what the hell is happening.

"Lewis! Oh my god, are you okay? Has the spell been broken?!" Cleo exclaims tearfully in shaky relief, just as she was about to start thinking the worst. Her boyfriend frowns up at the mermaid in confusion.

"...Cleo? What... what are we doing here? How did we get here?" Lewis asks fearfully and in confusion as he continues looking around him while he readjusts himself in the water so that he's bobbing up and down next to Cleo, his shimmering blue tail swishing about, keeping his head above the water. Lewis glances fearfully up to the top of the volcano where the full moon can longer be seen, wondering how the hell he got into the moon pool in the first place.

"Oh, thank god you're okay! For a minute there, I was thinking that I might have lost you for good! I was so scared!" Cleo sobs and then practically jumps onto Lewis, clinging to him tightly, never wanting to let go ever again.

At first, Lewis is surprised and doesn't know how to react, his mind still trying to figure out how he got here and why he doesn't remember anything. Eventually though, he returns the hug, burying his nose into the crook of Cleo's shoulder, listening to her cry softly. Despite being confused and not knowing what happened here, Lewis is at least glad that he is here with Cleo. He then feels her coppery, orange and gold tail wrap around his own blue and silver tail, pulling them closer together. That brings Lewis back into reality. _'Oh my god, she knows about me,'_ Lewis freaks out internally.

"Cleo, can you tell me what the hell is going on? Why are we here? Why can't I remember anything since this afternoon?" Lewis asks anxiously as he finally pulls away from the hug. Cleo sighs sadly, but she nods in response.

"You were moonstruck. I think you must have seen the full moon when Zane and Ash came over to Emma's with the pizza. They weren't supposed to be there. It took us a long time to figure out that you were moonstruck, considering we had no idea about... well, this," Cleo begins, and gestures down towards Lewis' new tail as the two continue bob up and down in the water. Lewis lifts his tail out of the water a bit so that he and Cleo can look at it more closely. It's the first time she has been able to actually pay attention to the tail, since she was previously focused on trying to save Lewis. Now that Cleo is looking at Lewis' tail, water glistening against his scales, she is in awe of it. Lewis' tail, instead of the coppery orange gold like Cleo's tail, is a mix of dark sapphire blues, sky blues, as well some silver mixed in there as well. His fins are a dark sapphire blue also. It's all absolutely beautiful, and now Cleo can't stop staring at it.

"O-oh... uh... I mean, I really was planning on telling you. I was just figuring out the best way to do it. Being effected by the full moon definitely was not on my top 5 list of ways for you guys to find out about me. Probably not even in the first 50. I'm really sorry that you had to find out this way..." Lewis replies with a sincere and apologetic gaze.

"I get it, I understand. It's not exactly... just some random small news you can spring on someone. I wanted to tell you so bad when I first became a mermaid, but Emma and Rikki wouldn't let me, and that was so hard for me. And, well, looks like I couldn't keep you away from the secret for too long, could I? It also wasn't exactly how I planned on telling you about it either," Cleo explains, hoping to ease Lewis' guilt and worries a little bit. Lewis nods in understanding, chuckling at the end.

"I'm just sad that you felt like you couldn't tell me about this when it just happened. It wouldn't have mattered to me, just like it doesn't matter to me now." Cleo admits.

"I know, I know... I wanted to tell you, I knew that I should have told you, but... I was still trying to wrap my head around this whole thing myself. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole thing. I've kind of been in denial and wanted to ignore it for as long as I possibly could, but I guess I can't exactly do that now..." Lewis sighs sadly, allowing his tail to sink back down underwater again. Cleo swims forward slightly, and pushes a lock of Lewis' hair away from his face, and she smiles at her boyfriend sweetly.

"It's okay, I understand. As you know, I was in denial about all of this for a while as well. But Lewis, you don't have to go through this alone anymore. We are in this together, we share the same secret. We can protect each other. We're a team. I know it'll take some time to get used to having a tail and all, but I'll always be here for you. Just like you were always there for me during the first few difficult weeks." Cleo reminds the teenage scientist softly. Lewis smiles appreciatively in response.

"Thanks, Cleo. That honestly means everything to me," Lewis says warmly, and it feels like a massive weight has been lifted off his shoulders now that Cleo knows, and that Cleo still loves and cares for him.

"But, how did we end up here? How come you're not some moon zombie right now? Is it already morning?" Lewis asks, a frown forming on his face, feeling very disgruntled by the fact that he can't remember anything. No wonder why Cleo, Rikki and Emma have always been terrified of full moons.

With a heavy sigh, Cleo then continues with her explanation of everything that had happened that night, not leaving out any detail. Lewis is horrified by what he hears, as well as terrified of not being able to remember any of it. He really doesn't want to feel like this every full moon, completely powerless and under the moon's control, and later can't remember anything.

"Wait... I was turning into water?!" Lewis exclaims in shock, his eyes widening.

"Yeah... it was different to our normal transformations, due to you turning into water for much longer, and obviously you not growing a tail. It was... terrifying to watch, to say the least." Cleo shudders, never wanting to deal with something like that again.

"Oh my god... I'm so sorry Cleo... that sounds terrible. I-I wish that it was all just some horrible nightmare. I didn't mean to hurt any of you, I promise. Especially not you, Cleo. I'm really sorry..." Lewis rambles apologetically, guilt etched into his face once again. Cleo puts a finger up to Lewis' lips for a moment, to try and get him to stop talking and continue spiralling downwards.

"Hey, you don't have to apologise, Lewis. None of that was your fault. It wasn't even you. Please don't beat yourself up over it, no one else is blaming you for what happened tonight. I'm just so relieved that you're okay. I thought I was going to lose you, and I've never been so scared in my life. I'm just so glad that I managed to get you back," Cleo exclaims, her voice breaking a bit as the horrible memories of the entire night flash through her mind. Cleo rushes forward and pulls Lewis into a hug again, which Lewis gratefully accepts.

"I'm glad you got me back, too." Lewis mumbles into his girlfriend's hair, and would be completely content to just live in this exact moment forever. Suddenly though, a puzzling thought enters Lewis' mind. After a few seconds, Lewis pulls out of the hug and looks at Cleo quizzically.

"Wait. So, how come you were never effected by the moon tonight? Surely you must have seen it when you came to find me," Lewis asks curiously with a frown.

"Honestly, I don't really know. Maybe I was so focused on finding you, I pushed out all of the moon's influence from my mind. Or, perhaps the moon wanted me to find you as well. Either way, I'm so incredibly glad that I wasn't effected tonight, because otherwise I may not have been able to find you or bring you back. Nor would I even know about any of this in the morning." Cleo shrugs, just as clueless about the situation as Lewis is.

"Huh. Interesting..." Lewis comments, and his mind whirling with many theories, and potential ways to test these theories, but he pushes all of these thoughts aside as Cleo wraps her arms around Lewis' neck, pulling him close. She then closes her eyes and leans her forehead against Lewis', and she has a light smile on her face.

"I'm just so glad that you're okay. I love you so much, Lewis. I always have and I always will. This new development doesn't change anything." Cleo promises in a quiet, but confident and calming voice.

"I love you too, Cleo," Lewis breathes, his heart racing in his chest, and for the first time since this whole merman ordeal began, it is not because of fear. Instead, it is because of excitement and joy.

"Your tail is beautiful, by the way." Cleo comments with a light smile.

"Thanks," Lewis chuckles, and he can feel the blush heating up his cheeks.

"Have you been for many swims yet? It's honestly so amazing, Lewis. It's so different to swimming as a human. You get to see so many amazing reefs and brightly coloured fish without needing any inconvenient scuba gear. Not to mention that as a merperson, your vision underwater will improve drastically, and the salt water will no longer sting your eyes. That's what really helped me begin to learn to love my powers, and I think it could help you, too." Cleo says excitedly.

"Um... no, not really..." Lewis replies awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, feeling his face start to heat up a little.

"Wait, have you even been in the ocean at all since your transformation?" Cleo frowns, tilting her head to the side slightly in confusion.

"Well, uh... no. No, I haven't. I've kind of just tried my best to avoid this whole tail thing entirely. I had hoped that it was all some strange dream." Lewis admits honestly with a sigh. Cleo smiles and nods in understanding, knowing exactly how Lewis feels. She was the exact same when she first got her tail.

"Hmm. We might just need to change that." Cleo says with mischievous but warm grin, making Lewis' heart skip a beat.

"Yeah... I think I'd like that." Lewis replies breathlessly. He then slowly leans in more, and presses his lips against Cleo's. The merman happily closes his eyes and melts further into the kiss, feeling like fireworks are going off inside of him. Once again, their tails wrap around each other, pulling them closer together. Lewis grabs Cleo's waist, just where the scales seamlessly meet the skin, and deepens the kiss, making it more passionate, his heart leaping for joy. Lewis can't believe he was freaking out over nothing. Of course Cleo was going to still love and accept him, why did he have to spend so much time being scared of that going wrong? He decides to forget about it, wanting to just live here in the moment, with Cleo Sertori, the girl of his dreams. Despite still not exactly being comfortable with his new magical life yet, Lewis is starting to realise that it might not be so bad after all, considering that Cleo will always be by his side. Maybe it's time that he started truly embracing being a merman.


	21. Welcome to the Club

Once the full moon has set the next morning; Emma, Rikki, Zane and Ash all quickly hurry over to the Sertori house, none of them knowing what to expect when they get there. The group have all been worried sick all night for their missing friends, feeling helpless and useless. What if something terrible has happened to Lewis and Cleo, but they hadn't done anything to stop it? Emma had received a text from Cleo half an hour ago, telling them all to meet back at her house as soon as possible, and that Cleo's dad and sister have already gone out for the day. Emma really hopes that whatever Cleo wants to talk to them about isn't bad news.

"What do you guys think happened to Cleo and Lewis last night? Do you think they are okay? Do you think Cleo actually managed to find Lewis?" Ash asks worriedly, breaking the intense silence as the tired and distressed four teenagers continue walking towards Cleo's house.

"God, I hope so... But come on, it was insanely stupid of Cleo to go after Lewis last night, fully aware that she was going to be hit by moonlight." Rikki sighs, shaking her head in disbelief at her friend's stubbornness. And people say that Rikki is stubborn. Pfft.

"But it was really brave of her, too. And honestly, I think that Cleo made the right decision. Most of the time, our gut instincts are right..." Emma tries to reason with Rikki.

"How do you know that?" Rikki argues back.

"Well, we're about to find out." Zane comments as he points towards Cleo's street that is just around the corner. The group of four quicken their place, all of them desperate for answers. Within two more minutes, the group finally arrive at the front of the Sertori household. Emma runs up to the front door and knocks rapidly.

"Cleo, open up! It's us! Are you okay?!" Emma yells breathlessly in between her knocks whilst Ash, Zane and Rikki all wait behind Emma with bated breaths. After a few moments of anxious silence while the teenagers wait outside the front of Cleo's house, the door finally opens, revealing a tired looking Cleo on the other side.

"Cleo, thank god! Are you okay?" Emma cries in exclamation as she practically jumps onto her friend, clinging onto Cleo tightly.

"Hi, Emma," Cleo chuckles lightly as she hugs Emma in return.

"What were you thinking?! Why did you run off like that without telling us? Anything could have happened to you, Cleo!" Rikki yells in exasperation.

"I'm fine, Rikki. I promise," Cleo says reassuringly.

"It's good to see you all," Cleo adds as she glances over Emma's shoulder, focusing her gaze towards Zane, Ash and Rikki.

"Where's Lewis?" Ash asks with a frown.

"What the hell happened last night?" Zane adds in a demanding tone.

"He's in the living room. We have a lot to tell you guys." Cleo answers as she pulls out of the hug and steps back inside the house, gesturing for her friends to follow. After exchanging a worried look with each other, the four friends follow Cleo into the house, with Ash bringing up the rear, closing the door behind him.

Cleo leads the group into the living room, where Lewis is indeed sitting on the couch with a slightly nervous look on his face. However, Rikki notes that even though he does appear to be a little nervous, he still looks much better than he has in weeks, and certainly not as scared or jumpy as he was last night. To Rikki, it looks like a massive weight has been completely lifted off Lewis' shoulders.

"Hi everyone..." Lewis announces as he stands up and walks over to the group.

"It's good to see you, man." Ash grins and gives Lewis a comforting slap on the back, which causes Lewis to smile a little.

"It's good to see you guys too." Lewis replies honestly.

"We were so worried about you and Cleo. We didn't know what had happened. I'm so glad that you're both okay... now, at least." Emma admits before pulling Lewis into a hug, which Lewis gratefully accepts.

"Speaking of not knowing what happened... What actually happened last night? Someone needs to start talking right now!" Zane clears his throat, catching everyone else's attention. Rikki nods in agreement with her boyfriend, standing by his side. Emma and Lewis quickly pull apart from their hug after a few seconds, where Lewis then goes to stand next to his girlfriend, holding onto Cleo's hand tightly and Emma makes her way back over to Ash, who wraps an arm around Emma's shoulders.

"First of all, I just want to apologise for all of the trouble that I have caused for you guys. Not just last night, but for the past month. I know I have been acting completely crazy lately, and I should have told you all the truth sooner, but I just… I didn't know how. Every time I wanted to tell you guys, I started to panic and chicken out. I'm really sorry." Lewis begins as he looks around at the group sincerely.

"It's okay, Lewis." Ash says with a supporting smile, encouraging Lewis to continue.

"I might as well start at the beginning. It all began on the night of last month's full moon. Stupid me thought it would be a great idea to go Mako Island and study the moon pool as the full moon passes over it. Everything was going well, until I accidentally let go of the vial in my hand. When I grabbed it back, my hand touched the water of the moon pool, while the full moon was still above it. I didn't think anything of it at first," Lewis explains while everyone else listens to him with fascination.

"Once I had realised what it could mean, it was too late. The damage was done. I went back home and was terrified of finding out the truth. I tried to put it off for as long as possible, but eventually I caved sometime the next day. I spilled a bit of water on me, and... and I grew a tail. I'm a merman." Lewis breathes out, worried about how his friends are going to react to this news. A stunned silence falls over the room for several moments while everyone tries to process Lewis' words. Lewis bites his lip anxiously, taking the silence as a bad sign. However, Cleo's reassuring hold on Lewis' hand keeps him from freaking out completely. At the very least, if all else goes wrong, Lewis knows that he still has Cleo. Lewis squeezes Cleo's hand back in response, as a sign of thanks. Eventually, Lewis decides to break the ongoing silence, after realising that no one else was going to speak, still probably in too much shock. Lewis clears his throat awkwardly before speaking again.

"Anyway, uh, that's why I have been acting really sketchy lately. I've been terrified of what I've become, I was terrified of you guys finding out and hating me for it, and of course I was terrified of having to deal with any water." Lewis says apologetically, looking between his friends, guilt and shame written clearly on his face.

"Wait, why would you be scared that we would hate you? We could never hate you, Lewis. You're our friend, and we will always be here for you." Rikki frowns in confusion.

"Maybe sometimes we've forgotten that all of this magic stuff has taken a huge toll on you, and that's on us. I'm sorry for that. We have to all look out for each other. That's what true friends do. And I'm especially sorry for being particularly harsh to you in the last couple of months, it wasn't fair on you. I know you're always trying to look out for us and keep us safe. I'm sorry that you felt like you couldn't tell us about this new, um... development of yours, but I am really glad that we know now. Even though finding out the truth wasn't under the best of circumstances." Rikki continues seriously, allowing herself to be more honest and vulnerable than she usually likes to be around anyone, but Lewis needs to know how she really feels. He needs to know that Rikki does actually care about him, even though their banter and arguments can go too far sometimes.

"Thanks, Rikki." Lewis smiles appreciatively, accepting Rikki's apology. Rikki smiles gratefully back at Lewis in return.

"Wait, so that time you ran out of that chemistry class... did you get splashed?" Zane asks in surprise, all of the pieces of the puzzle in his head finally coming together.

"Yeah, that's right. Actually, I'm pretty sure that the water in the beakers exploding everywhere in the first place was my fault. I think I have the same powers as Cleo," Lewis nods in response.

"Oh, so you've discovered your powers already? Cool!" Emma grins, feeling excited for Lewis.

"Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I didn't have to discover them in a classroom full of other students. I barely made it to the storage room in time. Hell, I didn't think that I was actually going to make it in time." Lewis shrugs in response.

"Okay, so now we know you're a merman. Is that why you were acting so strangely last night? You got moonstruck?" Ash asks with curiosity.

"Told you it was too risky for you to come over last night," Rikki hisses to Zane, gently elbowing her boyfriend in the ribs.

"Ow," Zane complains, rubbing the area that Rikki elbowed, but knows he deserves it. He shouldn't have rocked up at Emma's house unannounced and really late like that. It was a complete disaster, and Lewis and Cleo were put into danger because of his mistake.

"Yeah. I don't remember anything after you and Zane arrived last night. Cleo will be able to explain the rest of the story much better than I can." Lewis replies, glancing over to his girlfriend, who nods in agreement.

"Well, I for one am very curious to know what happened to you last night as well, Cleo. I thought we agreed that we would all go and look for Lewis in the morning?" Rikki frowns.

"Well, you know me; I just couldn't wait. I just knew I had to find Lewis last night. Call it a gut instinct or something, I don't know, but I was terrified of the consequences of not trying to find Lewis as soon as possible. I knew the risks of going into the moonlight, but I didn't care. Lewis was way more important to me." Cleo begins to explain, squeezing Lewis' hand comfortingly once again.

"I snuck out of the back door and turned around to face the moon. Surprisingly, I didn't fall under the moon's spell. I don't really know why, but it's something that I want to try and figure out at some point. Maybe there's a way for us to handle the full moon after all. Anyway, I dived into the water and swam to Mako Island, hoping that Lewis would be there." Cleo continues, glancing over at Lewis as she speaks. The couple smile reassuringly at each other before Cleo turns to look at their group of confused friends.

"Was he at Mako?" Emma inquires, looking between Cleo and Lewis with curiosity.

"Yes, he was. I found him sitting at the back of the cave of the moon pool. I got out and dried myself off and tried talking to Lewis. He wasn't really listening, like he wasn't really there... and then he started turning into water." Cleo sighs sadly, hating the reminder of that horror. Emma, Rikki, Ash and Zane all gasp in shock.

"What?!" Emma and Ash yell in disbelief at the same time. Zane just stares at Cleo and Lewis with his mouth hanging open slightly, not expecting Cleo to go and say something like that.

"He turned into water?! How is that even possible? Why did it happen?!" Rikki exclaims in utter confusion and worry.

"I would guess it's because of his powers that were growing more and more out of control because of the full moon. The moon pool was bubbling like crazy as well, before the full moon was even above the volcano." Cleo answers with a shrug, not completely sure on the answer of why Lewis was turning into water. However, it is the best theory that she has at the moment. She certainly doesn't want to explore the answer as to why the moon was doing that to Lewis either, especially if the only way to get answers is for Lewis to be moonstruck again.

"How... how did you get him back?" Emma asks a little quietly, feeling horrified at the thought of what could have happened to Lewis if Cleo hadn't gone out to Mako last night. She tries to push the terrifying thought out of her mind. Everyone is safe now; that's all that matters.

"Thankfully, I finally managed to get him to stand up and we jumped into the moon pool. Like with Rikki a couple years ago, being in the moon pool under the light of a full moon helped Lewis return back to a normal state, his powers calming down and he snapped out of the moon's trance." Cleo replies.

"I-I was so scared, I really thought I was going to lose him..." Cleo adds shakily, her eyes beginning to fill with tears as the horrible image of last night haunts her mind and stabs at her heart.

"But you didn't lose me. I'm still here. You can't get rid of me that easily." Lewis reassures the mermaid before pulling her into a comforting hug, which Cleo greatly appreciates and hugs the young scientist back just as tightly.

"Don't scare me like that again, Lewis." Cleo scolds her boyfriend, her voice muffled due to her face being buried in Lewis' shirt, making it harder for everyone to take her threat seriously.

Lewis chuckles lightly, "I wasn't planning on it," and proceeds to rest his chin on top of Cleo's head and closes his eyes, feeling more relaxed and happy than he has in weeks. Lewis really should have told Cleo and the others about his secret a lot earlier. He spent so much time stressing about their reactions for nothing.

"Well, congrats, Lewis. I guess you're officially one of us. You can't back out of this now. Welcome to the fish club," Rikki grins once Lewis and Cleo eventually pull apart and turn to face the rest of the group, Lewis still having an arm wrapped around Cleo's shoulders.

"I guess I can't. Well, looks like you're stuck with me forever, now. Sorry to break that news to you, Rikki." Lewis smirks.

"Oh, I can't wait for you to eat my bubbles when we swim to Mako. You'll be easier to beat than Cleo." Rikki retaliates triumphantly, happy that her and Lewis are finally back into their normal rhythm of banter again.

"Hey! You haven't even seen me swim yet!" Lewis protests indignantly.

"I don't need to. I just know that I will beat you." Rikki replies smugly.

"Oh, we'll see about that." Lewis says, accepting the challenge.

"And Rikki, maybe if you stop cheating and cutting me off, I wouldn't be so easy to beat!" Cleo protests, placing her hands on her hips while staring at Rikki pointedly.

"Sure, Cleo. You always get distracted by the dolphins and fish." Rikki responds while laughing. It doesn't take long for everyone to join in laughing, everyone knowing that Cleo absolutely would be distracted by any sea life. As Lewis gazes around at his group of friends with incredible appreciation, so thankful that they have all accepted him completely, he thinks that perhaps all this new merman stuff isn't going to be as bad or as scary as he thought it would be.


	22. Learning to Swim

"Are you ready, Lewis?" Cleo asks as she stands on the sandy beach, right at the edge of the water, with Lewis standing right beside her.

"I, uh... I don't know..." Lewis mumbles, eyeing the water nervously. He had been looking forward to going for his first true swim, as he definitely isn't counting last night as his first swim. The full moon 100% ruined that experience for Lewis. Not to mention that he wasn't exactly swimming last night either; Cleo practically dragged him back all the way to the shore because he couldn't figure out how to get his tail to work. However, now as he is standing on the beach, looking out to the ocean, he's not even sure if he wants to go in the water again at all. It just makes this new life of his feel all the more real and it'll prove that Lewis is not fully human anymore, which is still an extremely unsettling feeling for him.

"Hey. Don't worry, it'll be fine. I'll help you. I promise that when you're in the water, you'll realise that it's worth it. As you once told me a time long ago, you can't avoid water your whole life. You have to face it at some point. And I'll be right beside you the whole time. You don't have to do this alone, Lewis." Cleo says, breaking Lewis out of his spiralling thoughts. Lewis finally looks away from the ocean and turns towards his girlfriend, who is smiling softly at him.

"I know it's stupid, but I'm just kind of... scared." Lewis admits, cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

"It's not stupid. I was scared, too. The only way to get over it is to just dive in. No pun intended." Cleo replies reassuringly with a grin, taking one of Lewis' hands in hers, squeezing it gently.

"How have our lives turned out this way?" Lewis can't help laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. If you had asked Lewis just three years ago if he thinks that he would have been dating a mermaid and become a merman himself, Lewis would have called himself insane and suggested that he go to a mental institution. It's crazy how much their lives have completely changed in just a couple of years.

"I have no idea. I wish I knew," Cleo chuckles in response before taking a step closer to her boyfriend.

"But I'm glad we can deal with it together." Cleo adds in a slightly quieter voice, her curly brown hair flying all around her in the wind.

"Me too," Lewis agrees with a smile. He then glances back out at the clear blue ocean again, both anxiety and excitement coursing through his body at the same time. The cries of the seagulls soaring above them in the sky strangely compliments the sounds of the ocean crashing into the shore in waves and the wind that roars past Lewis' ears and pulls his sandy blond hair in all sorts of directions. Lewis closes his eyes for a moment, enjoying the salty breeze rushing past his face. Standing here by the water with Cleo, just listening to the sounds of ocean and wind is extremely calming and it allows him to begin to clear his mind from the anxiety that had begun to wriggle its way into his brain like a parasite. Lewis takes a deep breath as he opens his eyes once more, staring out towards the water, a sense of longing settling inside of him.

"I think I'm ready," Lewis finally decides, looking back to Cleo once again, who smiles and nods in response.

"Okay. Let's go!" Cleo agrees happily, turning towards the ocean and begins walking forward. Once he has glanced behind him to double check that no one is around them on the beach, Lewis quickly follows after Cleo. The two of them quickly run into the water, still holding hands. After several seconds of running as far out into the ocean as they can, Cleo and Lewis let go of each other's hands and dive into the water.

Almost instantly, Lewis begins to feel the strange transformation take place. A swirl of bubbles surround him while a tingling sensation rushes up through his body; his legs slowly fusing together. Within a blink of an eye, Lewis' legs are nowhere to be seen and have been replaced by a scaly blue fish tail, his clothes that he was wearing mysteriously disappearing also. It's still a massive shock to see a tail attached to his body where his legs should be, yet somehow it's also beginning to feel somewhat familiar to him.

Once the initial shock of seeing himself transform fades away, Lewis immediately falls into another panic; not knowing how to swim with his new appendage and forgetting that he can hold his breath underwater for a much longer time now that he is a merman. He flails around in the water fearfully, internally angry at himself for somehow thinking that trying to swim in the ocean was ever a good idea. This whole merman thing just isn't him; he can barely even move his tail, and why the hell is he tilting to the side? _'Oh god, I'm going to die, aren't I?'_ Lewis silently wonders as he continues to freak out and flail around more and more, knowing that he probably looks absolutely ridiculous.

Suddenly though, Lewis feels something grabbing onto his hand, tearing Lewis' focus away from his panicked thoughts. Slowly, Lewis turns his head to his left and immediately relaxes when he sees Cleo floating there next to him in her mermaid form with a reassuring smile on her face. Lewis takes a moment to gaze at his girlfriend with admiration, with her dark brown hair flowing and curling all around her as it gently moves about with the water's current; her golden orange tail moving gently back and forth as it seems to shimmer and sparkle under the sunlight that is pouring down from above the surface of the water. Lewis can't help but smile, never getting over how beautiful Cleo is, both inside and out. He's so distracted by Cleo, Lewis forgets about his fear of not being able to hold his breath underwater for long and begins to calm down.

Cleo begins to let go of Lewis' hand and tilts her head to the side; a gesture suggesting that they should try and head off out into more open waters. Lewis nods in agreement, his blond hair floating all around him. He quickly tries to brush some of it away from his face, watching as Cleo turns around and begins to slowly swim out to sea, but clearly not wanting to get too far ahead of him. Cleo obviously knows that Lewis will need some practice getting used to his tail.

Lewis stays still for a couple of moments, carefully watching Cleo's movements, admiring how her body glides through the water so effortlessly in one fluid motion. After another couple seconds of psyching himself up, Lewis raises his arms out in front of him, just as Cleo is, and begins to try and replicate her exact movements. The movements remind Lewis of the butterfly style of swimming, also resembling how dolphins swim. Lewis decides that he will have to write that down in his journal later.

The first few meters of swimming are extremely challenging for Lewis as he tries to get into a steady rhythm and keep his tail flopping from side to side. He thought it would be just as easy as diving into the water and swimming off, instinct kicking in. However, that is not the case. Muscles Lewis has never used before, as well as muscles that Lewis has never even had before, are hard at work and are beginning to burn in an effort to keep propelling Lewis slowly forwards. He cringes inwardly, knowing that he must look absolutely terrible and that his muscles should not be aching after only a few mere meters. Thankfully for him, Cleo is swimming in front of him, so she can't see Lewis' woeful attempt at swimming with a tail.

The two teenagers continue swimming slowly away from the beach and out into the open ocean, with Cleo glancing back every couple of minutes to check up on how Lewis is going. She can't help but chuckle, bubbles pouring out of her mouth as she does so, while watching Lewis' face screwed up in concentration as he struggles to propel himself forward. Cleo decides to slow down to a stop and waits for her boyfriend to catch up.

Once Lewis reaches Cleo, he looks at her with a confused frown, wondering why Cleo has stopped. He had assumed that they were heading to Mako. Yes, Lewis knows that his swimming is dreadful and painfully slow, but he feels that he needs to be cut some slack. He has only had his tail for a month, and this is only the second time actually being in the ocean in this strange new merman form. Lewis has never been great at dealing with magic; he has always been a man of logic and science. It took Ms Chatham a long time to get Lewis to accept what happened to Cleo, Emma and Rikki (and he supposes he should include himself in these descriptions now) was caused by magic rather than some sort of scientific phenomenon. He also once tried to create a spray that would keep the girls waterproof, but that didn't end up working so well. In summary, Lewis and magic haven't exactly gotten on well in the past, nor do they seem to be getting along now in the present either.

Lewis is pulled out of his grumpy and unhelpful thoughts when Cleo reaches out and takes his hand in hers and gives it a reassuring squeeze, her shiny dark brown hair flowing and curling gently around them while Lewis' blond hair seems to be floating steadily above his head. Her hazel green eyes sparkle with love, compassion and confidence, the mermaid fully believing that Lewis can do this. Lewis' heart swells with infinite love and appreciation for the mermaid, always taken aback in surprise when Cleo truly believes that Lewis can take on anything. He supposes that's how Cleo feels when Lewis does the same thing for her.

After another couple of moments floating about in the water with their respective orange and blue tails moving back forth in the gentle current of the ocean, Cleo finally gestures towards the open water ahead. Lewis nods in agreement, smiling as he does so. For the first time since all of this merman stuff began, Lewis finally starts to feel truly happy and excited, eager to explore the ocean and strengthen his connection with it. With that thought in Lewis' mind, the two begin to take off swimming again, but this time, they keep their hands interlocked.

As the two teenagers continue to swim side by side together, moving in the same rhythm, Lewis finds that his swimming slowly starts to improve, much to his delight. Lewis can't help but grin as he finally begins to understand how his tail works, even beginning to swim faster and his movements becoming more fluent. Another notable improvement that Lewis notices is that his tail isn't twisting randomly to one side nearly as much as it was just a couple of minutes ago. Out of the corner of his eye, Lewis notices Cleo smiling excitedly for him, obviously noting Lewis' improvement as well.

After several more minutes of swimming through the water still fairly slowly together while holding hands, the two teenagers share a knowing and mischievous look with each other before letting go of each other's hands. Within seconds, Cleo is off, leaving Lewis behind in a trail and whirl of bubbles.


	23. The Magic and Wonders of the Ocean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this is a slightly shorter chapter, I promise I'll update in the next couple of days to make up for it! I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far :D

Lewis stares after Cleo for a couple of moments, watching until Cleo's trail of bubbles have disappeared into the far distance. Lewis smiles to himself, finally thinking that it might actually be a good thing to be a part of all the magic instead of just observing it. Whenever Cleo talked about the ocean, Lewis never felt like he could completely understand what she was talking about. How could he? Until last month, Lewis was just a plain old human while three of his best friends were mermaids. The way that he saw the ocean was completely different to how Cleo, Emma and Rikk saw it, nor did he have the same urge to go swimming in the ocean as often as the girls did. But all of that has changed now; as a merman, he can finally experience the ocean the way that his friends do. Having a tail certainly wasn't something that Lewis wanted in his life, not by a long shot. However, since there's currently no known way to reverse what has happened to him, Lewis might as well enjoy the good parts of this new part of his life, instead of just enduring the negatives. Plus, now that he's a part of the magic, maybe he can get science and magic to finally make sense together?

Not wanting to be so far behind that he'll never be able to catch up to Cleo, Lewis pushes forwards with his arms and then flips his tail up and down as fast he can, keeping his arms out in front of him. Within an instant, Lewis is speeding off through the water, a swirl of bubbles surrounding him as his hair flies all about while he continues to swim faster than what should be possible. The speed is absolutely exhilarating. It's nothing like Lewis has ever experienced before. _'No wonder why the mermaids have always raved about this!'_ Lewis silently thinks to himself, feeling like he already understands his friends so much more. He thought he knew what it was like to be one of them before all of this happened to him, but now he realises that he was so wrong. As much as he wanted to before, Lewis could never truly understand what the mermaids were going through or what it was like. The explanations that the girls had always given Ash, Zane and himself are nothing compared to actually living it! This is so much more incredible than Lewis could have ever imagined! He has never felt more free and exhilarated in all of his life.

Lewis beams and sighs happily to himself in amazement and awe as he continues to speed through the water, impressed at how his body is cutting through it so seamlessly. Lewis is also in love with the feeling of the constant bubbles and currents of water pushing past his face and through his hair as he swims. Despite the sea of bubbles partially blocking his view forwards, Lewis isn't too worried about directions. Somehow, Lewis knows that some sort of instincts are kicking in and he will end up at Mako Island. Even on land, Lewis knew that he was magically connected to Mako ever since becoming a merman; he has always felt a pull inside of him, trying to draw him to Mako, though he has always pushed back those thoughts and feelings as much as possible due to fear. In the water however, that tethered connection is so much stronger.

Eventually, after another 15 minutes of intense swimming, Lewis finally begins to slow down until he is at a slow cruising speed, only gently flicking his tail every few seconds while his body moves in a wave-like motion as he starts to recognise some of the reefs surrounding him. Within a minute, he has slowed down enough so that the swirl of bubbles surrounding the merman begins to die down, allowing Lewis to see around him more clearly. Lewis looks in awe at the scenery surrounding him, admiring the bright mounds of coral, along with the seaweed littering the sandy ocean floor and large rocks protruding out of the sand from all around the place. _'It is so peaceful down here. Somehow, I feel right at home,'_ Lewis thinks happily to himself as he watches a school of brightly coloured fish swim around him, their scales shimmering from the sunlight shining down from above the surface of the water. Everything looks so much clearer underwater than it had ever looked before when he was human and swimming in the ocean, not to mention how great it is for his eyes not to be stinging from the salt water now. Just another merman perk.

Lewis glances up towards the surface for a moment, watching as the surface of the water seems to glisten and dance with sunlight. He smiles, in complete awe of the ocean's vast beauty. Lewis has never really given much thought to it before, if he was perfectly honest. The ocean was always just there, and even when Cleo and the others became mermaids, Lewis didn't suddenly develop an extreme appreciation for the ocean. Not until now, at least. In a way, Lewis almost feels that he's one with the ocean now. The thought of that should freak Lewis out, but strangely, it doesn't. It just feels... right. Lewis is surprised by how quickly he is gaining such a close connection with the ocean and Mako Island now that he is a merman _and_ is starting to let go of his fear. He's only been in the sea twice since his transformation, and he already feels like it's where he truly belongs. That particular thought does freak Lewis out a little bit however, as it reminds him that he's not fully human anymore.

Even though Lewis knows that he should be heading to the moon pool to find Cleo, Lewis is getting very distracted by his surroundings. For yet another sidetrack, Lewis decides to take a detour through a small coral reef and examines all of the coral species excitedly. The scientist inside of Lewis suddenly is overwhelmed at the endless possibilities of the research he could do now; exploring places that he couldn't necessarily explore before, being able to study plant and animal life underwater in more detail than most humans ever could. Not to mention the more in depth merfolk and Mako Island research possibilities as well.

Suddenly, Lewis hears a noise coming from behind somewhere behind him. The merman stops in his tracks and turns himself around out of curiosity to find a dolphin swimming up to him. Lewis smiles in excitement and watches the dolphin get closer and closer. Once the dolphin is close enough, Lewis reaches his hand out and gently strokes the creature's back. As the dolphin wriggles closer to Lewis, the merman takes note of how the dolphin's skin feels cool and smooth underneath his hand. It's such a surreal feeling; Lewis has never been this close to a dolphin before, let alone touching one. The dolphin clicks and chatters away happily as Lewis continues to stroke its back.

A couple of minutes go by, and then the dolphin suddenly swims forward, but after a few meters, it turns around and looks back at Lewis. In amazement, the merman assumes that the dolphin wants him to follow it. For a brief moment, Lewis vaguely wonders if dolphins are this friendly with everyone, or maybe it's just a merfolk thing. Of course, Lewis knows that dolphins do seem to be trusting and friendly creatures in general by nature, but Lewis can't help but feel that this is somewhat different compared to human and dolphin interactions.

Deciding that there's no harm in following the dolphin for a short while along with Lewis' curiosity about what will happen if he does, he swims up next to the dolphin, and the pair begin to swim together through the coral reef, with Lewis sometimes stroking the dolphin's back.

After several more minutes of swimming, Lewis sees that the dolphin has led the merman to a whole pod of dolphins swimming around playfully, some of them even doing some loop the loops. They chatter happily amongst themselves while Lewis continues to float about in the water, watching in awe and wonder. After a few moments, he begins to flick his tail gently and swims over to a small mound of rock and coral. Lewis leans onto it and wraps his arms around it to keep him steady. Plus, it also allows him to not need to swim against the underwater currents, which when not moving, is tiring work, even as a merman.

Eventually, Lewis decides that he should probably start heading towards Mako Island and the moon pool. Cleo is probably wondering where Lewis is right now, and he doesn't want her to worry. A little reluctantly, Lewis pulls away from the rocky shelf he was holding onto and swims away from the group of dolphins, continuing to make his way towards Mako. Still, Lewis makes sure that he goes slowly over the reef, taking in as much of it as he can.

Once Lewis completely passes by the colourful coral reef full of fish and plant life, Lewis cranks up the speed again and continues on his way towards Mako, bubbles swirling all around him. Another couple of minutes go by, and then Lewis starts to slow down again, noting that the water is getting a little shallower and a lot more underwater rocks and caves start appearing in the distance. As Lewis gets closer to the rocks and caves, he glances around him to try and find some sort of familiar landmark that can help him find the underwater cave tunnel that leads into the moon pool. Lewis has only used the underwater entrance once or twice, so this may be a bit of a challenge.


	24. The Moon Pool

Thankfully, it only takes a few minutes of swimming around and searching for a landmark that’s somewhat familiar for Lewis to find the underwater entrance to the moon pool. Lewis suspects that his short search for the entrance probably has something to do with his new connection to Mako, as he somehow already managed to make it all the way out here for the first time underwater mostly out of instinct. Lewis smiles to himself, beginning to think that he could start getting used to this new life of his. Sure, it certainly won’t be all good, but the incredible experiences that come along with it will outweigh the bad... right? 

Lewis quickly continues swimming forwards, his body moving in one fluid motion like a dolphin. Once he has arrived right outside the moon pool entrance, the merman enters the mysterious underwater tunnel without hesitation while glancing at the scenery around him with awe. This is all still so shockingly unbelievable to Lewis; he had somewhat gotten used to Cleo, Rikki and Emma being a part of the ocean, connected to it in ways that most people would never be able to understand. But now, Lewis is a part of all of that too, something that he never thought would be possible. It’s a surreal feeling, swimming through the underwater entrance to the moon pool with his own freaking tail. Never in a million years would Lewis have guessed that any of this would happen to him and his friends, of all people.

10 seconds later, the tunnel opens up into a much larger space, which Lewis instantly recognises as the moon pool, even though he’s still underwater. Lewis knows that he will always be able to recognise this place, no matter what. It’s where everything changed for Cleo, Emma and Rikki... and now Lewis himself. The next thing Lewis takes notice of is the familiar coppery orange and gold tail swishing about in the water. Lewis’ heart leaps a little in excitement, glad that Cleo stayed in the moon pool to wait for him to arrive. If she wasn’t here, Lewis honestly wouldn’t know where to search next. He’s not particularly familiar with the ocean yet, only really knowing how to get to the moon pool or the southern side of Mako Island. 

Without wasting any more time, and with a flick of his tail, Lewis starts to swim up towards the surface. As his head breaks the water’s surface, Lewis takes his first breath of air in at least half an hour with a loud gasp. The realisation shocks Lewis a little bit, knowing that he can now last way longer in the water without taking a breath. Whilst underwater, the thought of taking a breath hadn’t even occurred to him, apart from his initial freak out. It’s a very strange sensation, considering that when he was human, Lewis could barely hold his breath underwater for half a minute, if that. After taking a couple of seconds to regain his breath, Lewis moves the hair out of his eyes and quickly turns his gaze towards the mermaid sitting on the rocky underwater ledge of the moon pool. 

“Well, well. You definitely took your time. I was about to go out and look for you,” Cleo comments with a grin, quipping an eyebrow slightly as she speaks.

“Sorry, I got distracted,” Lewis apologises earnestly as he paddles his way forwards over towards Cleo and maneuvers himself onto the rocky ledge next to his girlfriend, their blue and orange tails swishing about underneath the water together.

“I figured that you might,” Cleo laughs while shaking her head in amusement.

“So, what do you think?” Cleo continues, looking at Lewis with excitement, and curiosity, hoping that Lewis enjoyed swimming in the ocean as much as Cleo has learned to love it; having a tail definitely isn’t all doom and gloom. If Cleo, a girl that was terrified of water for 15 years of her life can admit that, then she is certain that Lewis can too.

“That was... amazing! Incredible. Words can’t even describe it. Everything was so breathtaking, and the speeds at which we can swim! It’s completely out of this world! There’s nothing else like it!” Lewis exclaims breathlessly in excitement with a bright smile on his face.

“See? I knew that you would enjoy it! Yes, it’s scary at first, but once you see the beauty of all of it, you just sort of forget about why you were scared in the first place.” Cleo replies, reflecting on her own experience of the first few times that she was in the water as a mermaid.

“Yeah...” Lewis nods in agreement while staring at his girlfriend with admiration and appreciation. 

After a small pause, Lewis adds, “Thank you so much for getting me to do this. I don’t know if I would have been able to do it on my own. I can see why you, Emma and Rikki love this life so much.” 

“Of course, Lewis. I know how hard this can all be at first. I wasn’t going to let you deal with it on your own. Just like you, Rikki and Emma didn’t let me go through it on my own either,” Cleo smiles back in response, feeling her cheeks heat up ever so slightly.

“And I know this isn’t what you wanted for your life, and I’m so sorry that this has happened to you, but at the same time, I’m so excited to share this whole new world with you. Trying to explain it or using scuba gear doesn’t even come close to the real thing, as I’m sure you are aware of now.” Cleo continues as her heat races in excitement at all of the possibilities now ahead of her and Lewis.

“I’m really excited to share and explore this world with you, too. I can’t tell you how thankful I am for you making me see that this situation could actually be a great thing.” Lewis admits, smiling bashfully.

“Well, there is one way you could thank me.” Cleo comments with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes and gazes down at Lewis’ lips while she purses her own lips slightly, trying to give Lewis a hint.

“Oh, there is, huh?” Lewis asks with raised eyebrows, catching on with what Cleo is hinting at pretty quickly. The mermaid gives a small nod in response.

“Well, then. I guess there’s only one thing to do...” Lewis says with the same mischievous tone that Cleo had. He begins to edge in closer towards her, reaching a hand out to caress Cleo’s cheek, which she happily leans into. The couple continue to slowly lean in closer to each other until their lips are only a mere couple grains of sand lengths apart. The two merfolk pause for a tiny moment, enjoying the anticipation and the excitement buzzing in the air like crackling electricity, before closing their eyes and finally connecting their lips into a sweet and loving kiss.

Eventually, the pair reluctantly pull away from each other slightly to get some air, but continue caressing each other’s cheeks as they begin to open their eyes and smile breathlessly at each other, their foreheads leaning against one another.

“I love you,” Lewis whispers as he tucks a lock of Cleo’s dripping wet hair carefully behind her ear.

“I love you too, Lewis.” Cleo replies, the mermaid’s heart feeling like it could leap out of her chest at any moment. She honestly couldn’t be any happier, and just wishes that this moment could last forever. Just her and Lewis, in the moon pool, holding onto each other and never wanting to let go. Several seconds of comfortable silence pass by between the mermaid and the merman before Cleo eventually decides to break it.

“What held you up, anyway?” Cleo asks curiously as the two teens settle back into their previous position on the rocky ledge, sitting next to each other with their beautiful, glimmering tails brushing up against one another underwater.

“I swam through some coral reefs, and the scientist inside of me wanted to try and identify all of the different species of plants and fish. I definitely saw some species that I have never even seen before, which was so cool; I can’t wait to do observational studies on them. I also swam into a pod of dolphins, which was truly something else.” Lewis answers with an apologetic and slightly guilty shrug, causing Cleo to laugh.

“Yeah, I usually get distracted by that stuff too. Hence why I always lose the races with Emma and Rikki,” Cleo admits once she stops laughing.

“And how are you finding your tail? Getting used to it yet?” Cleo adds with a grin, glancing down at Lewis’ tail for a moment, watching as it moves about in the moon pool water. It’s still so strange for Cleo to see Lewis with a shimmering silver and blue tail, yet at the same time, it kind of suits him.

“I think so, yeah. I will admit that it was a struggle at first,” Lewis nods in response, cringing at the mental image of him pathetically flailing around in the water.

“Oh, trust me, I could see that.” Cleo laughs, the sight of Lewis struggling to stay floating upright, let alone actually trying to swim, is permanently etched into her mind. Ironically, he looked exactly like a fish out of water. Cleo knows that if Rikki was there, she would tease Lewis endlessly for it. Hell, even Cleo is probably going to never let Lewis forget about it.

“Hey! Cut me some slack, it was my first time swimming with a tail!” Lewis exclaims in protest, waving his hand through the water and intentionally splashing his girlfriend with the disturbed water, which only makes Cleo laugh even more.

“ _I_ wasn’t even that bad on my first swim!” Cleo teases, nudging Lewis in the shoulder gently.

“Yeah, yeah, okay, you guys are better swimmers than me. But I’ll get there,” Lewis mutters in defeat while rolling his eyes. 

“You have already improved a lot during that one swim alone. With more practice, maybe you will even be able to beat Rikki in a race one day.” Cleo says encouragingly whilst wiggling her eyebrows in mischief.

“Oh god, please don’t tell Rikki about this. She will never let me live it down,” Lewis groans in dismay at the very thought of Rikki finding out about how badly Lewis started off swimming.

“Hmm, I guess if you insist... Okay, fine, your secret is safe with me.” Cleo grins at her boyfriend. Life is certainly strange in how it can turn out, and the power of the full moon is even stranger. Not for the first time in her life, Cleo wonders if there’s such a thing as fate. No matter if fate exists or not though, Cleo is so immensely grateful that her life has led up to this. Even though keeping the secret can be extremely hard and stressful sometimes, Cleo wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

~~~

“Ma’am, there’s a Robert Wilson on the phone. He says that he has a deal of a lifetime on offer, just for you.” A young male scientist announces as he walks into the lab and approaches the woman sitting down at her desk with her laptop out in front of her.

“I’m sure whoever it is, they can wait. I really have to finish analysing these fish population counts. In fact, I should have finished these yesterday. I’ll consider ringing this Robert Wilson person later, when I’m not busy. But honestly, I don’t think I’ll be interested in whatever he has to say. I can’t really afford to take on any new research projects right now.” The woman sighs, not bothering to look up from her computer. The young man hesitates and shifts uncomfortably on his feet before speaking again.

“Wilson wants to give you the funds for a top secret project. He also wants you to start on the project right away, and says that you won’t regret it.” The young scientist continues to explain. Eventually, the blonde woman looks up from her computer and gazes over at her fellow scientist with annoyance, her icy blue eyes seeming to pierce right through his soul .

“What sort of project could be so desperately important that this guy needs it to be started immediately? Why would he turn to a disgraced scientist for such an important job?” The woman asks, sarcasm and bitterness dripping heavily into her voice.

“He has read your thesis on mermaids and cellular mutation. He believes that you’re the only one capable for the research he wants done.” The tired and exasperated expression on the woman’s face suddenly disappears and is replaced with shock and confusion, along with a thrill of excitement and curiosity. The woman stands up from her desk and walks around to her associate, a calculating smile forming on her face.

“Bring me the phone. Perhaps this Robert Wilson’s secret project is of interest to me after all.” She tells her colleague excitedly, a million thoughts and theories beginning to whirl around in her head all at once.


	25. Race to Mako Island

Three days later — with some helpful encouragement from Cleo — Lewis feels that he has enough confidence to be able to finally go swimming with all three mermaids now that he isn't completely flopping about uselessly in the water. Sure, Lewis knows that his swimming technique still isn't quite perfect, but it's all a matter of practice and building up strength. Plus, after that first swim with Cleo a few days ago, Lewis has felt much more comfortable with his new lifestyle, not nearly as afraid of exploring what he can do. The ocean is an amazing place and humans have only discovered about 5% of it. The scientist within Lewis is itching to try and discover more about the ocean than any human would ever be able to, considering that he has the means to do so. Cleo has also been helping Lewis with mastering his powers, though it did result in them both suddenly springing tails many times along the way. Thankfully, Lewis feels that he has a good enough handle on his hydrokinesis, though there is always room for improvement.

Lewis beams excitedly as he races through the water, bubbles swirling around him. Lewis glances over to his left and sees Cleo swimming next to him with a bright smile on her face as well. Lewis then goes back to glancing forwards, just making out two trails of bubbles left by Rikki and Emma. The two blonde mermaids had a great start when they dived into the water from the docks, managing to speed way ahead of Lewis and Cleo in a blinding blur of bubbles. Lewis is not one to give up, however. The merman refuses to be beaten in a race so easily. Glancing over to Cleo once again, he sees that she's not ready to give up either. With silent understanding, the couple begin to flick their tails faster, speeding off after their friends. Lewis continues to try and swim faster and faster to the point where he's beginning to get tired and his muscles burn, but he doesn't stop. Eventually, he finally sees Emma and Rikki in the not so far distance, causing Lewis to smirk victoriously.

Somehow, Lewis pulls out a last bit of extra strength pushes forward, his tail cutting through the water faster than he has ever gone before. Within several seconds, Lewis has finally caught up to Rikki and Emma, who glance over to him with surprise written all over their faces. Lewis merely grins smugly in response. The three of them continue to race each other towards Mako, almost neck and neck with each other, with Cleo not far behind them. The four friends soon arrive at the underwater entrance to the moon pool, and they all dive down into the underwater tunnel, one by one. The merfolk slow down as they enter the tunnel, not wanting to crash into the rocks or coral by not being careful.

Within seconds, the four teenagers arrive into the moon pool. Emma is first to surface, not long followed by Rikki and Lewis; Cleo's head finally emerging from the water a few of seconds after Lewis. The four of them swim over to the edge of the moon pool and collapse onto the underwater rocky ledge, all of them completely breathless after such intense swimming.

"Ha! I knew I would beat you," Rikki announces smugly as she turns towards Lewis.

"Only because you and Emma took off before us! Otherwise, I would have totally beaten you!" Lewis retorts in between gasps for breath.

"Pfft, in your dreams, fish boy. I can outswim you any day." Rikki smirks.

"Please, is this argument even necessary? I beat you both anyway." Emma scoffs, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Meanwhile, Cleo was so far behind that I thought we had completely lost you." Rikki continues, redirecting her attention towards Cleo instead. Cleo's eyes widen in surprise.

"Hey! I was only a couple seconds behind you guys! I wouldn't call that being so far behind!" Cleo protests indignantly while Lewis, Emma and Rikki all chuckle in amusement.

"Up for a rematch, then?" Emma challenges the group whilst cocking an eyebrow slightly.

"Ugh... give me a couple of minutes, thanks. I'm still dying from the first round." Lewis groans as he sinks further down into the water. He begins to lean more onto the underwater rocky ledge of the moon pool as his head rests on the sandy edge of the pool.

"Dude, you really gotta up your stamina game." Emma points out, noticing Lewis' exhaustion.

"Don't remind me," Lewis sighs dramatically, fully aware that he should try going to the gym sometime. Only problem is that he has been saying that to himself for years now, but has never made any effort to go. Ah, procrastination and laziness at its finest.

"A real merman would have way more muscle than you," Rikki adds thoughtfully, nodding in agreement with Emma and giving Lewis a teasing grin.

"Oi! I'm the only merman you have ever seen! Why should you have the ultimate say in what a merman should, or should not look like?" Lewis protests in fake shock and outrage, playfully splashing water in Rikki's direction, causing the mermaid to laugh.

"Because I just do." Rikki replies smugly with a small shrug of her shoulders. Emma and Cleo exchange a look just before they both roll their eyes almost in unison, recognising that Lewis and Rikki are falling back into their usual back and forth banter. It's both hilarious, but also frustrating at the same time.

"Come on, Rikki, give me a little break. I'm still getting used to this whole thing, you know." Lewis says while turning over in the water so he can have a better look at his tail. He tentatively gives it a couple of flicks, watching as it moves up and down in the moon pool, splashing droplets of water everywhere. It's still such a surreal feeling seeing a fish tail attached to his body where his legs should be. Lewis doesn't know if he will ever get used to it, but maybe that's okay. Life is full of unexpected surprises, and Lewis is eternally glad that he can experience this one with his best friends.

"How does it feel to be a part of the magic? Is it better than being on the outside looking in?" Emma asks curiously, noticing Lewis staring at his brilliant blue tail with awe and wonder.

"It's... hard to describe. There's really no words for any of this. Impossible is probably the closest thing I can come up with right now," Lewis huffs out a small laugh of disbelief.

"Welcome to our world." Cleo replies, smiling warmly at her boyfriend, who gives a small smile in return, reaching a hand over to Cleo's and grasping it in his own.

"I hope I didn't intrude on and ruin your mermaid club though, Rikki. I know how you feel about there being more than three mermaids." Lewis smirks, now turning back his attention back towards the feistiest mermaid of the three.

"Pfft. I mean, it's not ideal, but since you're technically a merman, not a mermaid... I can probably deal with it. Barely. You can stay, I guess." Rikki sighs dramatically while rolling her eyes, feigning annoyance.

"Good to know," Lewis laughs, soon joined in by Cleo and Emma while Rikki glances around at her friends as she tries to fight back a smile forming on her face.

"Don't you just feel so free while you're swimming?" Emma asks the group curiously, though the question is mainly aimed at Lewis since he's still new to all of this, once all of their laughter eventually dies down.

"Yeah, for sure. I never noticed that the ocean could make you feel this way until... well, you know..." Lewis says, gesturing towards his silvery blue tail swishing about in the water.

"It's a merfolk thing," Cleo comments with a shrug, glancing at Lewis with a spark of mischief in her eyes.

"How are your powers going?" Rikki asks Lewis, eagerly hoping that she can tease him for being terrible at his powers as well as being a slow swimmer.

"Great, actually. Here, watch this." Lewis grins before lifting his hand out of the water, twisting his hand in a motion as if he's opening a jar, just as Cleo taught him a couple days earlier. The three mermaids watch in fascination as a blob of water from the moon pool slowly begins to rise up into the air above them as Lewis continues focusing, raising his hand up higher and higher.

"Cleo's been a great teacher." Lewis comments as they all stare up at the floating ball of water. He begins twisting his hand around a little more, moulding the blob of water into the shape of a pyramid.

"A little shaky, but not bad for a beginner." Rikki says nonchalantly, not feeling overly impressed. Lewis glances over at Rikki and smirks mischievously as he moves the pyramid of water over towards Rikki's head. Before Rikki can shout in protest, Lewis let's his hand drop back into the water and lets go of his focus on the water pyramid, watching in delight as it hurtles down towards Rikki and drenches her, causing the mermaid to shriek in surprise.

"Lewis!" Rikki scowls in annoyance as she coughs and splutters from the sudden water in her mouth and all over her face.

"Whoops. Guess I need more practice." Lewis says sarcastically, feigning as much innocence as possible. Emma and Cleo snicker in response to Lewis' comment while Rikki just huffs in annoyance, pulling wet strands of hair out of her face.

"Not as much as you need to practice your swimming if you really want to beat me in a race." Rikki says to quickly change the subject, raising an eyebrow at her friends in a challenging manner as she pulls away from the edge of the moon pool. She then prepares to dive back underwater and begin swimming back towards the mainland.

"Oh, don't worry. I will." Lewis says confidently, beginning to pull away from the moon pool's edge as well, now that he feels that he has managed to catch his breath again.

"Ha! I'll be dried off on the beach before you even get to the shore," Rikki teases confidently as Cleo and Emma also push off from the rocky ledge, making their way towards the bickering duo.

"I guess there's only one way to find out." Lewis responds with a mischievous smirk.

"See you on the other side, fish boy." Rikki retorts with a laugh before diving down underwater and begins speeding out of the moon through the underwater tunnel. Lewis, Cleo and Emma all quickly follow suit.


	26. Is It Really Love?

“So, how’s your job at the marine park going?” Emma asks Cleo with curiosity as she takes a sip of her juice, sitting across from Cleo in their usual booth at the cafe. Emma is still in her work uniform, as she had only just gotten off her shift 10 minutes ago.

“It’s going good, yeah. There haven’t been any near misses for a while, which has been nice. I always love it when I get to feed the dolphins. It’s definitely the best part of my job.” Cleo replies while nodding.

“I thought that technically isn’t your job to do,” Emma cocks an eyebrow suspiciously.

“Well... it’s not, but I make it work. No one has ever really tried to stop me,” Cleo replies with a guilty shrug.

“That’s great to hear, Cleo. Even though I was against it right at the beginning, I’m really proud that you got that job at the marine park. We can’t let water control our entire lives with fear. It definitely inspired me to work at the Juicenet Cafe.” Emma admits truthfully.

“I had a close call here the other day, actually. A customer bumped into me as I was carrying some drinks, but thankfully I managed to run into the cool room in time. Ash covered for me, otherwise I definitely would have been a goner, since Wilfred wanted to get into the cool room for some more oranges. I’m so happy I’ve told Ash about me being a mermaid, not only has it made my life easier, but it has improved our relationship as well.” Emma adds.

“Do you think you would have gotten together with Ash if you didn’t work here at the cafe with him?” Cleo wiggles her eyebrows mischievously, causing Emma to roll her eyes in response.

“Yeah, no, probably not, to be honest. Without working at the cafe, Ash would have only known me as the girl that thought she knew best and poisoned his horse.” Emma replies honestly.

“Well, it all worked out for the best anyway. No point on dwelling over the what if’s.” Cleo says with a shrug.

“Yeah, it has worked out pretty great...” Emma sighs happily as she thinks about how lucky she is to have Ash in her life. He’s always been so calm and patient with her, even though Emma knows she can be very stubborn sometimes.

“Have you guys said it yet?” Cleo asks, breaking Emma out of her thoughts.

“Said what?” Emma frowns in confusion, growing even more confused when a mischievous grin appears on Cleo’s face.

“That you love each other, of course!” Cleo replies excitedly.

“Oh, god! No, no, definitely not! We are definitely not at that point yet!” Emma exclaims nervously, her cheeks tinged pink.

“Really? So you just... like him, then? Nothing more than that?” Cleo teases, watching with evil glee as Emma continues to grow more red while flustering more and more.

“Cleo, we have been going out for four months! That’s way too soon to be in love with someone...” Emma stammers out unconvincingly and averts Cleo’s gaze. 

“Well, in my opinion, if you know, you know. I’m sure Ash feels the same way about you anyway.” Cleo replies, trying to reason with her red faced friend.

“No! I’m not... I-I mean I don’t... it’s too soon, Cleo! We really like each other, but it’s nothing super serious.” Emma says, refusing to look anywhere except down at her juice in front of her.

“Oh, please. If it wasn’t serious, would you really have told him you were a mermaid?” Cleo asks in a quiet voice, making Emma pause for a moment. The two friends fall into silence for about a minute, Cleo patiently waiting for Emma to respond while Emma just continues to stare down at her juice.

“Look. I know what I’m doing. I can handle my own relationship, thank you very much. Ash and I are fine. We’re taking it slow.” Emma mumbles as she finally looks back up at Cleo.

“That’s fine! I was just curious, that’s all. You don’t have to wait for Ash to say it first.” Cleo replies encouragingly, reaching out her hand and holds onto Emma’s hand, squeezing it gently. Emma opens her mouth to respond, but a male voice quickly cuts her off before she can even speak.

“You don’t have to wait for me to say what first?” Ash, the boy in question, asks curiously as he makes his way over to the booth where Emma and Cleo are sitting.

“Nothing!” Emma says loudly, suddenly sitting up straight, turning to look at Ash with wide eyes, her heart racing a million miles an hour.

“Ash! Hi! It’s good to see you,” Cleo greets Ash with a friendly smile, gazing between her two friends eagerly, hoping for something to happen. Cleo usually isn’t one for drama, but she knows all too well what can happen if feelings aren’t communicated. Cleo and Lewis could have avoided the whole Charlotte mess if they just admitted how they really felt a lot sooner. Cleo doesn’t want Emma to make a similar mistake.

“It’s good to see you too, Cleo. Can I get you guys anything?” Ash replies in a friendly manner.

“No, no, we’re good. Thank you. We’ve already got our juices.” Emma gestures hastily to the glasses in front of her and Cleo. 

“No problem.” Ash nods and begins to walk away, causing Emma to breathe a sigh of relief and relax in her seat a little. That little moment of relief fades away just as quickly as it came, as Ash suddenly stops in his tracks and turns around to face the two girls again.

“Okay, but what were you guys talking about just before? What are you waiting for me to say?” Ask queries, eyebrows furrowing into a curious frown.

“Nothing! It’s fine! Don’t worry about it, okay?” Emma interjects hurriedly, feeling her face burn up once again while her heart beats rapidly. She silently curses herself for looking so suspicious. Ash will absolutely know that something is up with her.

“Uh... okay? Well, Emma, my shift ends at three, so maybe we could hang out after that? I can meet you at the beach if you want?” Ash says a little hesitantly.

“Sure. I’ll see you then.” Emma smiles politely in response. Ash gazes at Emma with slight suspicion and confusion for another a moment or two before he shrugs it off and heads back to work. With Ash gone, Emma turns and glares at Cleo.

“Do you see what you almost did? You almost scared Ash away from me forever!” Emma hisses harshly.

“If he was going to be scared away from you, it would have been when he saw your tail. Not because of your growing feelings towards him.” Cleo points out stubbornly, not wanting to let this go. Cleo knows that she’s right and doesn’t want Emma to say or do something that she will later regret. 

Emma wants to protest, but no witty response comes to mind. Deep down, Emma realised that Cleo is probably right. Ash obviously deeply cares for her, otherwise he would have run away in fear and disgust when she revealed herself as a mermaid. As it so happens, he didn’t. Perhaps Emma needs to let her guard down even more, which is a terrifying thought. Who knew that having strong feelings for someone could be more nerve wracking than admitting to that same person that you’re a mermaid?

“You should tell him, Em. It won’t be as bad as you think. Plus, I’m almost 100% certain that Ash feels the same way about you. He looks at you the same way that Lewis looks at me.” Cleo continues talking, snapping Emma quickly out of her spiralling thoughts.

“Maybe, but...I-I have to go, I’ll catch up with you later. I’ve got errands to run.” Emma says hastily as she stands up from the booth, grabs her things and hurries out of the cafe, leaving her unfinished juice and a surprised looking Cleo behind.

~~~

Emma hurries as fast as she can down towards the beach. She could not get out of the Juicenet cafe fast enough, her cheeks burning a bright red as she left and wished that she could have just crawled into a hole and disappeared forever. She hates being put on the spot like that, especially when it comes to certain feelings she has for a certain someone. Emma likes to be prepared for everything, but with Cleo bringing up the issue when Emma hadn't even thought about it too much on her own, and then Ash walking over and almost hearing their conversation, Emma has never felt so unprepared in all of her life. 

The blonde teenager sighs sadly as she makes her way up one of the sand dunes and towards the beach, just needing some time alone to sit and think. She finds a nice spot at the bottom of the sand dune, amongst some shrubs and grass. The mermaid sits down in the warm white sand and stares out towards the brilliant blue ocean, where the sky’s horizon is difficult to differentiate from the clear blue water. Emma lets out a deep breath and starts to feel herself relax, feeling more at home down here at the beach, staring out towards the ocean.

As she begins to contemplate on what to do about Ash, Emma sits in silence for several minutes, pulling her knees up towards her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs as her long blonde hair flies about in the wind behind her. It is pretty obvious that Ash could tell that Emma was acting weird back in the Juicenet cafe, and Emma knows that Ash won’t just drop the subject so easily. He certainly didn’t dismiss Emma’s strange behaviour before knowing that she was a mermaid, after all. Ash will definitely want to ask Emma about her weird behaviour later on, especially because the two of them promised each other that there would be no more secrets once Emma had shown Ash that she was a mermaid. Reluctantly, Emma realises that Cleo is probably right about Ash; if he can still stick by Emma even though she is a half fish freak, he would probably want to stick by her through almost anything. 

If that’s the case though, why is the mermaid so afraid of her growing feelings for Ash? Are they going too fast? Or worse, what if Ash doesn’t feel the same way about her? Emma doesn’t think she would be able to cope with that rejection. _‘Well, you shouldn’t have fallen for him so fast then, idiot,’_ Emma silently scolds herself sternly, knowing that she only has herself to blame for the sticky situation that she has ended up in.

“Hey, blondie!” A familiar voice snaps Emma out of her spiralling thoughts. Emma jumps in surprise and quickly turns around to see Zane Bennet walking towards her with his usual smug grin on his face.

“Ugh. Hi, Zane.” Emma sighs as she rolls her eyes before turning back around to face the ocean again, not particularly in the mood to talk to the arrogant boy. Honestly, what does Rikki even see in this guy?

“Woah, someone’s in a mood.” Zane chuckles, making his way over to Emma and sitting down next to her, much to Emma’s dismay.

“Why are you even here? Shouldn’t you be with Rikki or something?” Emma says, glaring back over at Zane with narrowed eyes.

“She’s spending the day with her dad. Some father-daughter bonding time or whatever. I can’t relate; my dad can barely look at me.” Zane lets out a dry laugh, shaking his head as he speaks.

“Wait, but I thought things were getting better between you and your dad?” Emma frowns in confusion. Zane sighs and looks out towards the ocean before responding to Emma’s question.

“They were, for a while. But lately, he’s been caught up with and distracted by his work again, I guess. He’s almost always away on business trips these days. Plus, he’s frustrated that I don’t want to go into the family business after I graduate high school.” Zane explains, sounding tired. Emma glances at the boy, noticing the sadness and tiredness etched into his face. The mermaid bites her lip slightly, feeling a little bit sorry for Zane. He can definitely be a jerk, and Emma still thinks that he will be reckless with the secrets of Mako Island, but she realises that it must be hard to have your only living parent not giving you the time of day. Emma has always been very grateful that her parents have always been loving and supporting. Unfortunately, not everyone has that, Zane included.

“What do you want to do once you graduate?” Emma asks curiously.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. A gap year might be nice, though. Gives me time to think about what I really want.” Zane shrugs.

“Let me guess. Your dad isn’t on board with that idea?” Emma raises an eyebrow questioningly.

“Hell no. He thinks that I’m being lazy, like I always am, apparently. In his eyes, I will probably always be lazy until I start working for his company, or earning a six figure salary in my own company.” Zane replies with a scoff, shaking his head in disappointment.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, Zane. And I’m sure your dad will eventually come around, once he realises that the most important thing is for you to be happy.” Emma says in an attempt to console the boy that she has known since they were both toddlers.

“It’s a nice thought, but I’m not holding out too much hope for that.” Zane glances over and gives Emma a small smile, appreciating that she is at least trying to cheer him up. 

“Anyway. What are you doing out here being all sulky, Emma? I thought you’d be at home stressing your head off about some stupid homework or something.” Zane hurriedly continues talking, clearing his throat a little, wanting to change the subject. He hates having to talk about his feelings and letting his guard down around people. This has been the case ever since his mother died when Zane was five.

“Ugh, thanks for the reminder. I really should start that maths assignment.” Emma groans in dismay and cranes her neck to look up to the sky, hopelessly praying that someone else could do the assignment for her, as she is certainly not in the mood for solving a bunch of complicated maths equations.

“Um, that isn’t due for at least two weeks.” Zane points out, giving Emma a strange look, as if she’s some sort of alien.

“Exactly! Better get started early! I don’t want to be staying up until ungodly hours in the days leading up to the due date trying to finish it!” Emma exclaims wildly, still unable to believe that her entire friend group has always seemed okay with procrastinating until the night before an assignment is due.

“Damn, you gotta chill out a little bit, Emma!” Zane laughs in amusement.

“I am chilled out!” Emma retaliates with a scowl forming on her face, frustrated with how everyone thinks she is so uptight and stubborn all the time. Why is being tidy, organised and wanting to be punctual with things such a strange concept to her friends? Although, Emma does admit that she could probably relax a little bit with certain things. Not that she is going to admit that to anyone, of course.

“Okay, blondie. Whatever you say.” Zane smirks, enjoying how easy it is to wind Emma up. Zane has known how to push Emma’s buttons ever since they were little.

“But seriously, though. What’s with the brooding?” Zane asks in a slightly softer, kinder voice.

“I don’t know… not that it’s any of your business, Zane.” Emma says before looking down at the sand, suddenly interested in trying to count as many grains as possible.

“Look, I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but I’d like to think that we are somewhat friends now. I mean, we’ve known each other since we were toddlers. What’s up?” Zane continues to press the issue, never having been one to know when to drop something. Emma lets out a defeated sigh of frustration before glancing back over towards Zane.

“Fine. I’m worried that Ash doesn’t feel the same way about me that I do about him. Happy?” The mermaid says snappishly.

“Wait, what?” Zane’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

“It’s dumb. We have only been together for a few months. I shouldn’t be completely in love with him yet… should I?” Emma rambles worriedly. Her worry quickly turns into surprise and annoyance when Zane starts to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Emma narrows her eyes at the boy sitting next to her.

“Emma, you seriously need to chill out and stop overthinking things. Ash definitely loves you, that’s clear as day.” Zane explains, baffled that he even needs to tell Emma this.

“Really?” The mermaid’s eyes widen in shock.

“Duh. He doesn’t want to put any pressure on you to feel as though you need to feel the same way right now, which I guess is why he hasn’t mentioned it to you.” 

“I… I don’t know what to say…” Emma breathes, her heart racing a million miles an hour in her chest.

“Well, I can’t help you with that one, blondie. You’re on your own. See you around. And uh, good luck with your maths assignment.” Zane grins mischievously as he gets to his feet and walks back up the sand dune, leaving Emma alone on the sand with a lot to think about.


	27. The Pros and Cons of having a Tail

Later that afternoon, Lewis finds himself wandering down the beach, enjoying the cool sea breeze rushing past him, causing his hair to fly everywhere while he listens to the sound of the roaring ocean in the distance. Lewis smiles happily to himself as he continues to walk along the sandy shore, grains of sand getting stuck between his toes. Lewis has always loved the beach. It holds so many good memories of him with his family and friends. Now of course, Lewis has an even stronger connection to the beach and the ocean. After several minutes of walking, Lewis eventually spots Max Hamilton standing right by the shore, with his fishing rod flung out into the sea, a bucket sitting next to Max's feet and a chair planted in the sand behind the man. Lewis decides to walk over and say hi to Max, whose work Lewis is still completely obsessed over and fascinated with. Besides, Lewis thinks that it's probably a good idea to apologise for his odd behaviour when they last caught up a couple of weeks ago.

"Max! Hey!" Lewis calls out as he jogs over towards the older man. Max turns around and waves in response as he notices Lewis making his way over to him.

"Lewis. It's good to see you." Max comments before turning back around and concentrating on his fishing line again.

"Any bites?" Lewis asks curiously while gesturing towards the older man's fishing rod. Max glances at Lewis and then down at the bucket sitting by his chair. Lewis looks into the bucket, nodding in approval at the sight of four fish already lying in the bottom of the bucket.

"Wow. You certainly do always know the best places to fish." Lewis comments as he looks back out to the ocean, where the sky is turning a red-orange colour as the sun begins to dip below the horizon.

"It's all down to experience, Lewis. Eventually one day, you'll be giving advice to people, just like I am now." Max replies with a chuckle. The two scientists continue to stand and look out towards the ocean for a few moments in a comfortable silence, both feeling at peace being this close to the sea.

"So, what's on your mind?" Max eventually asks after a while. Lewis hesitates a little before responding, not exactly sure what to say.

"I kind of just wanted to apologise for acting super weird on the beach the other week. I was having a really rough day," Lewis begins tentatively, glancing over at Max to gauge his reaction.

"Yeah, you're definitely the first person I've met who was afraid of a volleyball," Max agrees with a laugh.

"You already know the reason for that, don't you, Max?" Lewis continues, strongly suspecting that Max has already figured out that Lewis is not quite 100% human anymore.

"I have my theories," Max replies vaguely with a nonchalant shrug. Lewis sighs, annoyed at the fact that Max is deliberately forcing Lewis to say what they both already know. It would have been nice to not have to admit that he's a merman out loud. He's still not totally got his mind around the whole idea yet, and Lewis isn't sure if he ever will be able to completely accept it. Either way, Lewis finds it frustrating that he has to spell out the truth when it's obvious that Max already knows.

"Two full moons ago, I went to Mako Island to do some research. In hindsight, it was a terrible idea to go into the moon pool on the night of a full moon, but at the time, I was just thinking about the amazing possibilities of expanding our knowledge on how the moon pool actually works." Lewis begins to recount the night that changed his life forever.

"Mmhm." Max hums while nodding, keeping an eye on his fishing line.

"Anyway, I was collecting water samples when the full moon was above the volcano, and it slipped out of my hand. I managed to grab it back, but... well, my hand touched the moon pool water, and the rest is history." Lewis explains, still unable to believe the craziness of it all. How could he have possibly thought doing tests in the moon pool on the night of a full moon would be a good idea? His plan was doomed from the start!

"Wow..." Max mumbles in amazement, quite shocked at the fact Lewis only touched the moon pool water with his hand, yet it has had the same effect on him as it did with the girls.

"I guess that's one way to describe it," Lewis huffs, still scolding himself internally for being so stupid.

"So, how are you finding it? Being truly a part of all the magic, not just studying it?" Max asks, glancing over at Lewis curiously. Lewis contemplates the question for a short moment before answering.

"It's... not as bad as I thought it was going to be. In the beginning, I was freaking out. I thought my life was destroyed and only focused on the negatives. I mean, how am I supposed to go to uni and get my dream job with my new secret? Being any sort of scientist, asides maybe a physicist, means being surrounded by water a lot of the time, and it's just too risky for me to be in that field. I would go from the scientist to the science experiment. Everything I took for granted, like accidentally spilling juice on myself or getting splashed at the marine park, they could be the end of me now. Not to mention that this is going to be incredibly hard to keep a secret from my family…" Lewis trails off, a sharp pang if guilt shooting through him as he thinks about the lies that he will forever have to tell his family, likely putting strains on their relationships with him. Lewis quickly clears his throat before speaking again.

"Anyway, back to the point. Eventually, when Cleo and the others found out, I started to realise this merman thing has some positives too." Lewis admits honestly.

"When did you tell your friends about what happened?" Max queries, suspecting Lewis probably made it much harder than it needed to be.

"Um... I didn't exactly tell them. I mean, I was going to tell Cleo, but I chickened out. I was too afraid of what she was going to think. However, my friends still ended up figuring out my secret last full moon. I ended up moonstruck, so... I couldn't exactly keep hiding it, since I wasn't even myself that night." Lewis replies sheepishly, instinctively rubbing the back of his neck to distract himself from the embarrassment and shame.

"Oh."

"Look, I know that I should have just told my friends, okay? It sucks that they had to find out in the way that they did, but the important thing is that they know about me now. No more secrets." Lewis interjects hurriedly, not wanting a lecture from Max about trusting friends more and how Lewis just made it harder for himself. Lewis is very acutely aware of this fact.

"They were fine with it though, right? You mentioned that you started to accept your new life once your friends found out?" Max asks, hoping that there isn't any bad blood between the teenagers. Max has firsthand experience on how tough that can be, and how it became his biggest regret of his life.

"Yeah, they were fine with it. I was worrying over nothing. In fact, Cleo was the one that convinced me to finally get in the water, because until that point, I hadn't been swimming at all." Lewis replies with a shrug.

"I bet it's an experience out of this world, huh?" Max chuckles.

"Oh, you have no idea. It's the most incredible feeling ever! I think that feeling I get when I'm swimming in the ocean, especially with Cleo by my side, makes me forget about all of the negatives of being a merman. None of the downsides can measure up to the good." Lewis replies breathlessly as he stares out to the ocean with an excited smile. He can already feel a pull deep within his soul urging him to dive into the water, but at least for now, Lewis manages to contain that urge.

"I'm glad you took my advice, Lewis." Max smiles fondly at the teenage boy standing beside him. Lewis frowns at Max in confusion.

"What do you mean? What advice?"

"The advice about the girl, and not letting her go. It was obvious from the start that's who Cleo was to you." Max responds.

"Oh. Yeah, you were right about that. Cleo means everything to me. I just wish that I didn't have to cause unnecessary drama to get where we are now..." Lewis says, trailing off with a sigh.

"Well, what's done is done. The past is the past. What's really important is moving forwards, learning from mistakes, and that you have still Cleo in your life. I don't think you'll be letting her go ever again, and that's what matters." Max tells Lewis wisely.

"You've got that right. I'm definitely not letting Cleo go again. Actually, I think me becoming a merman has started to bring us closer together than ever before," Lewis chuckles fondly. The two scientists continue to stand side by side and fall into a comfortable silence for several more minutes, the silence occasionally broken by when Max catches a fish. Naturally, Lewis jumps backwards as Max reels the fish in. He doesn't exactly want to transform into a merman right here and now, considering there are still a few groups of people milling around on the beach. Plus, if he transformed on the sand, he would basically be a beached whale.

Suddenly, something far out in the distance of the ocean catches Lewis' eye. Lewis turns to look in that direction more closely, squinting to try and have a better look at the object in the distance. As far as Lewis can tell, it looks like a boat. For some reason, something seems familiar about it.

"-Lewis? What do you think?" Max's voice pulls Lewis' attention away from the boat. Lewis glances back to Max with a confused and oblivious look on his face.

"Hmm? What was that?" Lewis asks with a frown.

"I was asking if I should move to another fishing spot, as the tides are beginning to change, or should I just call it a night?" Max repeats his question while gazing up at Lewis with a hint of concern in his eyes.

"Oh, uh, I don't know..." Lewis trails off as a terrible feeling settles in the pit of his stomach. Lewis looks back out towards the boat in the distance once again.

"What is it?" Max asks worriedly.

"Do you know who owns that boat out there?" Lewis says as he points in the direction of the boat for Max's sake.

"Hmm... no, it doesn't look very familiar to me. I don't think it's local. I did see a boat like that pull up into the marina earlier today, though. Why?" Max replies as suspicion and wariness starts to sink in.

"I don't know... it just seems strangely familiar to me. I'm going to go get a closer look. I'll have to talk to you later." Lewis announces before he takes off at a jog down the beach and towards the jetty, not waiting for Max to respond or protest.

It takes a couple of minutes for Lewis to reach the very end of the jetty jutting out over the water, and he arrives puffing and panting. Lewis tries to convince himself that it's because sand is difficult to run on, and not at all because Lewis has never been a good runner, nor has he been in top shape. Again, Lewis takes a mental note that he really needs to hit the gym.

While Lewis tries to regain his breath, he looks out towards the boat in the distance. From the jetty, the boat is definitely closer than where Lewis was standing down with Max just before, but the boat is still a fair way out. However, Lewis is at least close enough to recognise the blue whale tail symbol on the side of the boat. An overwhelming sense of dread courses through his body as Lewis realises what this means: Doctor Denman is back.


	28. A Familiar Enemy

“Are you sure that it was even her boat?” Zane frowns as he watches Lewis pace around the bedroom anxiously; the science geek is biting his nails and clearly unable to stand still.

“Yes, I’m definitely sure. Why would she come back here? Do you think she could have somehow found out that Cleo, Emma and Rikki are mermaids again?” Lewis continues to panic frantically while Zane and Ash are sitting on the opposite ends of Lewis’ bed, watching their friend spiral into a full on freak out.

“You need to relax a little bit, Lewis. You’re getting ahead of yourself. She’s probably here doing more fish population counts or something else equally as boring. How could she possibly know that the girls are mermaids again? She saw them lose their powers. There’s no way Denman could possibly know that an eclipse only takes their powers away temporarily,” Zane tries to reason with the visibly distressed teenager.

“But, how can we be sure of that? I thought it was all going to be fine last time, that it would all blow over. But it didn’t. Denman kept the cell sample and came so close to capturing the girls, where she most likely would have made them become her own little science project.” Lewis sighs in frustration, continuing to pace up and down the room.

“Let’s just think about this logically for a moment, okay? From my perspective, as a person who hasn’t even met this Denman person before, I don’t really see how there can be any risk at the moment. I mean, you guys said that she saw the girls lose their powers, right? Hell, even Zane believed that they lost their powers. We hardly know anything about how the power of the full moon or Mako Island work, and anyone else would have even less knowledge on the issue. This marine biologist would have no reason to suspect that any one of them could be mermaids again.” Ash tries to point out reasonably.

“I guess...” Lewis sighs defeatedly as he finally stops pacing and turns back towards his friends with an uncertain frown.

“Ash is right; there is literally no reason for Denman to suspect anything about the girls. If she knew about them, I feel like we would already be aware of that fact. She would have confronted one of us by now, surely. I think you know that, too. I mean, why are you only telling me and Ash about this discovery?” Zane adds, raising his eyebrows quizzically.

“I just… I don’t want to worry the girls unless I have to. It’s my fault that Denman even found out about them in the first place. I was stupid and careless.” Lewis answers sadly as he sits down on the bed next to Zane and Ash, his shoulders slumped tiredly.

“Well, technically it wasn’t just your fault that Denman found out about them...” Zane says with a sigh, a wave of guilt rolling over him as he vividly remembers how his mermaid hunting obsession had almost gotten his girlfriend turned into some sort of freak science experiment that Denman and her goons wanted to poke and prod at.

“Look, sulking about the past won’t do anyone any good. What’s done is done. We have to focus on the present, and as of right now, we have no evidence of Doctor Denman being here for any dark motives.” Ash attempts to calm the situation down before either Lewis or Zane can fall into a complete downward spiral.

“I suppose so...” Zane grumbles, still frustrated by his past actions.

“I guess there’s no harm in trying to find out exactly what she knows and why she’s here though,” Ash shrugs. Even though he has never met Doctor Denman himself, Emma has certainly had her things to say about the marine biologist in the past. Ash has never heard Emma insult and curse someone as much as she has about Doctor Denman, so that certainly has to mean something.

“Just to be on the safe side,” Lewis agrees with a firm nod.

“Okay, but what do we tell the girls then?” Zane asks with a frown.

“Nothing. At least for the moment, anyway. We don’t want to raise any sort of suspicion in Doctor Denman that the girls have their powers back. Getting Cleo, Emma and Rikki involved in this and allowing them anywhere near Denman would be way too risky. Until we can know for sure what Denman is up to, we have to try and keep this to ourselves.” Lewis states firmly.

“I don’t think lying to our girlfriends is a good idea, Lewis. This could all spiral out of control very quickly.” Ash says worriedly, hating the idea of keeping all of this news a secret from Emma. The couple had promised each other that there would be no more secrets between them once Emma had revealed that she was a mermaid. This whole Doctor Denman thing puts that promise, and possibly their relationship, in jeopardy.

“What good is telling them about Denman going to do? You think I’m overly worried about this situation? Cleo, Emma and Rikki will be a thousand times more anxious and upset about this, trust me. I mean, they were the ones that were captured and almost lost their freedom. They might do something reckless and get discovered by Denman again. We have to be smart about this.” Lewis replies in a serious tone.

“Lewis... you know that the Cleo, Emma and Rikki aren’t the only ones in danger this time around, right? I’m sure Denman would be very intrigued by your new merman status.” Zane points out, a hint of worry underlying his voice. As much as he hates to admit it, the science geek has started to grow on him, just as Ash, Cleo and Emma also have. Hanging around Rikki and being in on the Secret naturally means having to spend time and attempt to get along with her friends, too. Somewhere along the way, Zane began to see the group as more than just mere acquaintances. They’re certainly better company than Nate anyway, who is supposedly Zane’s best friend. Sure, Nate is fun to hang out with and has been Zane’s friend since kindergarten, but the guy lacks a bit of… substance.

“I know... but there’s even less of a reason for her to suspect me having a tail. I mean, we went scuba diving together last year.” Lewis says with a nonchalant shrug.

“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be more careful,” Ash points out with a frown, in agreement with Zane.

“Guys, relax! I know what I’m doing. I’m a scientist; I can handle this. I’m not going to let anything happen to Cleo, Emma or Rikki... or myself.” Lewis says, rolling his eyes a little in annoyance, tired of everyone seeming to think that Lewis can’t handle himself in risky situations. Sure, he hasn’t had the best track record with the marine biologist in the past, but Lewis has learned from his mistakes as all good scientists do. He was naïve and infatuated with Doctor Denman when she first arrived on the Gold Coast last year, and he definitely wasn’t as careful as he should have been. But things have changed a lot since then... Lewis has changed, and it’s not just because of his new tail, either.

“Look, all we’re saying is that you just need to be cautious, that’s all. We don’t want you or the girls getting hurt.” Zane replies tiredly, feeling that this conversation is just going around in circles at this point.

“Of course I’ll be cautious. I’m not stupid. And besides, you guys said that there was nothing to worry about, right? So why are you worrying about it so much?” Lewis retaliates, raising an eyebrow as he glances between each of his friends. There’s an awkward silence between the trio for several seconds before Lewis starts talking again.

“I’ll try and get close enough to Denman so that I can find out what she does and doesn’t know. I probably have the best chance of getting to talk to her without raising too much suspicion. Once we figure out exactly what she knows, we can go from there,” Lewis announces suddenly, standing up from his bed.

“We can help-“ Zane begins to protest, but Lewis quickly cuts him off.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a physics report to work on. It’s due tomorrow, and I have a lot of work to do. I’ll talk to you guys later.” Lewis says as he walks over towards his bedroom door, opens it, and gestures for his two guests to leave. Zane and Ash exchange a hesitant look with each other before they reluctantly oblige and say their farewells to Lewis before exiting the McCartney household.

~~~

It doesn’t take long for Lewis to find Linda Denman. In fact, it’s Linda that actually finds Lewis. Only two days after seeing Denman’s boat out at sea just beyond the marina, the merman is currently just minding his own business at the cafe, drinking a smoothie while he is typing away on his laptop for an English assignment. Suddenly, he feels a light tap on his shoulder. Lewis turns around and almost jumps out of his skin when he sees Doctor Linda Denman standing behind him with a friendly smile on her face.

“Doctor Denman! Hi! I didn’t see you there!” Lewis exclaims in surprise, his heart still beating a thousand miles an hour due to the sudden shock of seeing someone he had hoped to never see again.

“I tried calling your name, but I guess you were too engrossed in your assignment.” Linda replies with a chuckle, gesturing towards Lewis’ laptop.

“Oh. Sorry.” Lewis apologises hastily as he quickly shuts his laptop and turns to fully face Linda. She looks... nice. Her long blonde hair is pulled back into a sleek ponytail, and she is wearing a smile that probably has melted hundreds of hearts; this certainly had included Lewis’ heart at one point in time. However, Lewis has well gotten over his crush on the marine biologist. Mainly because he is with Cleo now, and in Lewis’ eyes, no one can compare to Cleo’s beauty; both inside and out. The other obvious reason he moved on from Linda that shouldn’t even need to be explained is the fact she was going to experiment on his best friends.

“It’s quite alright, Lewis. Your studies are very important, after all.” Linda comments lightly.

“So, uh... why are you here?” Lewis frowns a little nervously, getting straight down to the point.

“Why am I here in this café, or why am I here on the coast?” Linda asks with a smirk, which only widens when she sees Lewis struggling to find the right words to respond with.

“Um... both, I guess?” Lewis eventually answers, sounding a little unsure of himself. Linda can’t help but smile at Lewis’ stammering and awkwardness; the kid hasn’t changed a bit since the last time she saw him.

“I think we need to take a walk so we can chat. I don’t think it’s the best conversation to have with so many people around,” Linda suggests as she glances around the café, watching as groups of adults and teens alike walk in and out of the vicinity.

“I don’t know, I’ve still got a lot of homework to do...” Lewis says hesitantly, not sure if going with Linda right now is the best idea. He vividly remembers how that went for him last time. This time around though, Lewis has even more to lose if things go wrong. He can’t afford to be taking massive risks, both for his sake and the mermaids’ sakes. Of course, Lewis will have to confront Linda at some point, but he would much rather do that with a plan formulated in his head first.

“Oh, don’t worry, it won’t take long. I just think that we have a lot to catch up on.” Linda insists, refusing to back down. It doesn’t seem like her suggestion is really even a request. Lewis sighs, realising that Linda won’t leave until she talks to him about whatever she wants to talk about. He doesn’t really know how he can get out of this. Besides, the teenager does need to know what Linda is doing here anyway. What’s the harm in just talking to see what she knows? He will be careful to not accidentally reveal anything; Lewis has certainly learned that the hard way already.

“Okay, fine. Let me just pack up my stuff.” Lewis eventually agrees, forcing himself to smile.


	29. Making Waves

Lewis and Linda make their way out of the cafe and walk along the trail route right along the side of the canal until they eventually reach a spacious park filled with trees and flowering bushes; the soft hum of the bees can already be heard from where Lewis and Linda are standing. From a quick glance around the area, it appears that one else is to be in the park. Well, no one is around this particular entrance of the park, anyway. The duo walk over towards the closest park bench and sit down. They sit in silence for a couple of moments, listening to the birds in the trees and the buzz of the bees hovering around the bushes of flowers while the scent of freshly cut grass and the sweet smell of the surrounding flowers fill both Lewis and Linda's noses. Droplets of sweat start to cling to both the teenager and the marine biologist's skin due to the humidity of the day and lack of wind. In Lewis' case, the beads of sweat are also caused by his nerves being electrified, his heart racing a million miles an hour. There is a lot riding on this conversation; Lewis can't afford to screw it up. Not when Cleo, Rikki and Emma's safety are at risk. Eventually, since Linda doesn't seem like she wants to be the one to do it, Lewis finally decides to break the growing eerie silence and turns to face Doctor Denman.

"So… why are we here?" Lewis asks, trying to keep his tone casual, not wanting to seem too anxious. He can't let Linda find out about the girls having their powers back. Lewis doubts he'd be able to live with himself if she did figure out the truth, especially if Lewis unintentionally aids her in doing so.

"I don't know, I guess I just wanted some closure on what happened last year, about why you betrayed me like you did." Linda answers vaguely with a shrug.

"What about it? You were going to hurt my friends. That's all there is to it." Lewis snaps back harshly.

"It wasn't anything personal, Lewis. It was just business. You're a scientist, aren't you? Why wouldn't you want to make a profit and show mermaids off to the world? Your name would have been printed in all of the future's history books! Everyone would know your name!" Linda retaliates, still in disbelief that Lewis doesn't see the existence of mermaids the way that Linda does. Their existence could change the entire way that scientists view the world; there are so many more secrets to uncover.

"Science is not all about profit, Linda. It's about understanding our world and bettering humanity's existence. That doesn't involve treating human beings as personal science projects." Lewis snarls back angrily, disgusted that he used to look up to this so-called 'scientist'.

"You're still too young to understand, Lewis. You don't have much life experience yet, and think that the world is all sunshine and rainbows. Maybe when you're older, you'll feel differently..." Linda sighs in disappointment. Lewis is a bright kid, and would definitely thrive in the scientific community once he leaves high school. However, Lewis' naïvety and obliviousness towards the real world will definitely hold him back. It's a massive shame; he could have made a real difference in the scientific world, and more specifically, the marine biology world.

"No. I understand everything perfectly clearly right now, actually. It's not a matter of me being 'too young', as you would say. Age has nothing to do with this. Unlike you, I actually have ethics and morals, I know that it is wrong to treat people as lab rats and hold them against their will for some stupid profit." Lewis retorts snappishly.

"Technically speaking, your friends weren't even human beings, Lewis. Under the law, they wouldn't have had the same rights as we do." Linda states matter of factly.

"That's a pretty disgusting way of looking at it," Lewis scowls, voice seething with anger and disgust, his hands curling into fists.

"It's just the truth, Lewis. The truth isn't always pretty. True research and breakthroughs don't come without costs. Humanity wouldn't be where it is today without some... controversial research. It was terrible, but it was necessary for our society to be where it is today." Linda shrugs nonchalantly, causing Lewis to grit his teeth, unable to believe that the woman he once admired is speaking so casually about completely disregarding all ethics and morals just to make supposed scientific progress. How can mermaid research really make the world a better place, anyway? The only benefit that Lewis could possibly see is that aquariums would suddenly have a lot more visitors.

"I looked up to you, Linda. I really did. I thought that your work was amazing, but you've really let me down." Lewis says honestly as he looks away from the marine biologist and out towards the clutter of trees all around them, with droplets sweat still clinging to his skin from the humidity hanging in the air. He feels as though he has already been swimming at the beach or something. Typical Queensland weather.

"You let me down too, Lewis. You robbed me of an incredible scientific breakthrough. You robbed _the world_ of a scientific breakthrough. You made me look like a fool to the rest of the science community when you decided to erase all of my cellular mutation research and took back your cell sample in an apparently lapse of judgement. What's also worth mentioning is that you also blatantly lied about where you got your cell sample from in the first place." Linda says with a dry laugh that makes Lewis feel a little uneasy. He knows that Linda Denman is a smart and cunning woman, probably never willing to let the whole mermaid thing go. Lewis is sure that she would do anything to prove that they exist again.

"Maybe things could have been different if you weren't going to imprison and experiment on my friends. That's all on you, Linda. I didn't force you to make those choices. I wish things could have been different, too." Lewis snaps back at the scientist.

"Hmm, I have a hunch that you may have gotten your cell sample from Cleo, am I correct in assuming that? She followed you like a love sick puppy back then. She was the only one of your friends that had much faith in you keeping their secret. I bet Cleo felt foolish after that. Is she still that same love sick puppy with you now?" Linda contemplates thoughtfully, blatantly ignoring Lewis' previous comment.

"Don't bring Cleo into this! And don't ever talk about her like that!" The teenager scowls defensively.

"Fine. Whatever. But, don't get super worked up about, kid. You got what you wanted. It was very lucky for Cleo and your other friends managing to slip away that night. Things could have turned out very differently for them. It's a shame that the major scientific breakthroughs disappeared along with them when they lost their powers, not to mention my credibility amongst the scientific community. Surely you feel some sort of guilt for not allowing the world to know about mermaids." Linda huffs in annoyance. Lewis scoffs and rolls his eyes, choosing not to respond.

"Who knows what else could be out there? Three teenage girls would have been worth the sacrifice to benefit humanity in the long run." Linda continues coldly.

"Not to me, they're not." Lewis replies just as icily.

"Why are you even here? You know that the girls gave up their powers so that you couldn't keep chasing after them all of their lives. It's over, Doctor Denman. There's nothing for you here now." Lewis adds, folding his arms over his chest, still looking out towards the trees.

"So it seems," Linda sighs, leaning back against the park bench defeatedly.

"I'm only doing annual coral analysis, ocean temperature analysis, sea level changes and fish population counts. Very boring. No mermaid stuff. It's not like I have any leads to go on, anyway. You can even check the data that I already have, if you really want." Linda adds, hoping to catch Lewis' interest. Fortunately, Lewis does appear interested and turns back to look at Linda.

"What, so you've completely given up on the mermaid research?" Lewis asks sceptically.

"Yes. As I said, I don't have any leads to go on, now do I? I have you and Zane to thank for that one," Linda replies, lying through her teeth easily. Sure, Cleo, Emma and Rikki aren't mermaids anymore, but Linda is certain that the key to how they became mermaids has something to do with that moon pool on Mako Island. It is how they mysteriously lost their powers, after all. Linda will have to do more research, now that she has the necessary funds and research facilities provided by Robert Wilson. However, Linda can't have Lewis interfering with her plans this time. Without a doubt, he would try and stop her, along with the rest of his friends. Linda refuses to let an amazing discovery out of her grasp again.

"I suppose not..." Lewis replies hesitantly, not completely trusting Linda's words. However, Lewis accepts the fact that if Denman were up to something, she definitely wouldn't be sharing that with Lewis. Not after everything that's happened. If Lewis wants to find out the real truth, he is going to have to go about it in a much more sneaky way.

"Well, I'm sorry that we can't work out our differences. You are a bright kid, Lewis. You have a great future ahead of you in the scientific world. We could have worked together, even." Linda smiles sadly at the teenager, being completely honest with him. Lewis has shown more dedication and love for science than Linda has ever seen in any of her colleagues. Linda is genuinely disappointed that they won't be able to collaborate together in the future.

"Yeah, well, just as you said, life isn't all sunshine and rainbows is it?" Lewis retorts harshly, sarcasm deeply laced into his voice.

"No, it isn't," Linda smirks in agreement.

"Now, if you don't mind, I've got stuff to do, so. Excuse me." Lewis says with an air of finality before he stands up from the bench, swinging his backpack over his shoulder and begins walking away from the marine biologist.


	30. In Hot Waters

On this particular warm and sunny Friday late afternoon, Lewis finds himself wandering down towards the docks. It's an old habit that is refusing to go away, despite the fact that Lewis hasn't been able to go fishing ever since that life altering night in the moon pool. Fishing is a decidedly much too dangerous activity for a merman. At least walking down to the docks brings Lewis some sense of calmness and nostalgia though; he certainly needs it at the moment. He has been extremely on edge since Doctor Denman arrived back on the coast, especially after the chat the two of them had earlier in the week.

When Lewis told Ash and Zane about his encounter with Denman, they both seemed to think that there was nothing to worry about; Denman has no proof of mermaids existing and she wouldn't want to damage her reputation even more by going mermaid hunting. Zane did not forget to point out how the whole school had thought he was mad and should have been put in a psychiatric ward when he was publicly hunting mermaids. _"If a legit scientist was discovered doing exactly what I was doing, they would cop it way worse than I did,"_ Zane had tried to convince Lewis. The blond teenager understands Zane's logic, and so desperately wants to believe in that line of thinking too, but there's still a part of him that is extremely doubtful and suspicious of Linda Denman. It's like a constant gnawing in the pit of his stomach and it continues to grow larger everyday.

Lewis, Zane and Ash are still in agreement on not telling the girls about Denman yet. Well, Lewis barely managed to convince Zane and Ash to keep it quiet for just a little bit longer until they can get more intel on Linda's intentions, anyway. Ash and Zane reluctantly agreed, deciding to give Lewis the benefit of the doubt. They can both see that Lewis is still really worried about all of this; the two unlikely friends want to help Lewis as much as he can to find concrete proof that Denman isn't here to cause any of them harm, and if that means not telling the girls about Denman for a few more days, so be it.

Thankfully, none of the mermaids have suspected that something is up and keep focused on their school work and beginning to look for formal dresses for the end of the school year instead. Even though the formal isn't until November after final exams, which is still six and a half months away, Cleo, Emma and Rikki are already trying to plan out the big night. Lewis, Ash and Zane unanimously decide to let the girls have full control of planning all the details for the night. It'll be much easier that way.

Lewis smiles contentedly as he continues to walk down towards the docks, gazing around at the dozens of people moving around on their own boats, or just beginning to pull away from the docks. While he can't exactly go fishing, it's at least nice to get that same rush of excitement and energy that he gets while he walks down towards his boat before heading off to somewhere near Mako Island to fish. The nostalgia and love for fishing trips in his small boat is definitely still there, and Lewis doesn't think it will ever fade. Fishing is an all time favourite past hobby of his; it was a huge part of his childhood and teen years.

Memories of going fishing with his brothers flood into his mind, including a couple of memories from when Lewis was really young of his dad going fishing with all of them as well. Lewis' dad died when he was only six, so he doesn't have many memories of the man, apart from a couple of big fishing trips. Lewis unfortunately also vividly remembers the many weeks that his dad had laid in a hospital bed, slowly dying. Now, those are memories that Lewis really wishes that he could forget. However, no matter how much he tries to repress those memories of seeing his father so weak, it still comes back to haunt him from time to time. Cancer sucks.

Lewis sighs, trying to push the sad thoughts of his dad out of his mind as he makes his way to the very end of the dock and just stands there, gazing out at the water lying in front of him. He takes a few deep breaths and just listens to the sounds of the hustle and bustle of people around him on their own boats while seagulls fly above them, squawking all the way. The sound of seagulls may not be tranquil to anyone else, but to Lewis, it signifies a place of familiarity and homeliness. This is due to having spent a significant part of his childhood on the water or on the beach, and now that he's a merman, he is connected to the ocean in ways that he would never be able to describe to anyone.

For a moment, Lewis considers diving into the water and swimming out towards Mako. He hasn't gone for a swim in a few days now. The last time he went for a swim was probably around the time that Denman suddenly showed up out of nowhere, but the itch to get back into the water has been growing inside of him by the day. As Cleo had predicted, now that he's had a taste of what swimming with a tail is like and has learned to let go of a lot of his fear, he can't get enough of it. Lewis' mind wanders back to Cleo, and considers calling and asking her if she's free for a swim. Possibly Rikki and Emma too. Lewis is still determined on beating those two in a race someday. Who knows, maybe that day could be today? Lewis grins to himself and begins to take his phone out of his pocket.

Just as Lewis opens up his phone and is about to send a quick group message to his friends, a boat pulling into the marina catches his eye. Frowning, Lewis glances up to get a better look, and sure enough, he can see Denman's boat pulling in towards the docks. Lewis assumes that Doctor Denman and her team must have gone out to Mako Island and conducted some population counts and coral studies... but maybe they were trying to search for mermaids? Or what if they were trying to figure out the secret of the moon pool?

Lewis' heart rate begins to speed up while his stomach feels like it is doing backflips. The gnawing feeling is back again, this time stronger than it has ever been before. Slowly, Lewis closes his phone and places it back in his pocket. There's no way he can go for a swim now, not when Denman and her team are so close. However, this could be the perfect opportunity to see what she is actually working on.

After a couple of moments of hesitation, Lewis decides that he should try and do some sneaky investigation. Without further ado, Lewis walks back up the marina, heading towards the direction in which Denman's boat is being pulled into. As he gets closer to the boat, he can start to make out several figures moving around on the vessel, looking like they are beginning to pack up their equipment. Lewis hastens his pace a little as his curiosity and worry begin to increase.

Not wanting to be seen by Linda or her team, Lewis quickly ducks behind a pile of crates several meters away from Denman's boat. Unfortunately, Lewis is just out of earshot from the group of scientists and can't hear what they are talking about. Instead, Lewis peaks over the top of one of the crates to try and get a look at what Linda and her team are currently doing. From Lewis' viewpoint, it appears that they have finished docking the boat and are starting to walk back onto the docks carrying laptops, clipboards probably with compiled data clipped onto them, underwater cameras and so on. Nothing looks too out of the ordinary, and none of the team look particularly suspicious either. Maybe Zane and Ash really were right about Denman just doing regular environmental research after all. That thought puts Lewis' mind at ease a little bit, finally allowing himself to start believing that Linda truly doesn't know about the mermaids' powers returning.

Lewis continues watching Linda and her colleagues walk away from the boat and back up the marina, presumably taking all of their equipment back up to Denman's lab. Wait... Denman doesn't have a lab here on the Gold Coast anymore... does she? She's certainly not working in the marine park, so where could they be taking all of that equipment and data?

As Linda and the small group of people with her disappear from sight, Lewis decides to seize this rare chance he has to get onto Denman's boat and find evidence of what she's working on. Of course, he knows he won't be able to find everything considering the marine biologist and her team have already taken some of the equipment and data onto shore, but there still has to be some important files still on the boat, right? Either way, Lewis has no time to lose; he has no idea how long the scientists are going to be gone for.

Taking a deep breath, Lewis steps out from his hiding spot and rushes towards the boat while his heart feels like it is in his throat. Lewis is very aware of how risky this is, but in the end, the safety of Cleo, Emma and Rikki is more important than possibly getting arrested for trespassing. Lewis internally groans at the thought of being arrested, knowing full well that his family would never let him hear the end of it. Especially his older brother Lenny, who has really been on Lewis' case lately.

Within 30 more seconds, Lewis arrives at the boat. The merman in question quickly takes the small jump without hesitation and lands onto the deck of the research boat. He begins to walk around and explore the area, searching for anything of interest. Lewis rummages through the endless papers on the desk towards the back of the boat, hoping to find something that stands out among the rest, something abnormal perhaps. However, all Lewis can find are the statistics of the fish populations around Mako, the health of the coral reefs along this part of the Gold Coast as well as some analysis of the changes in ocean levels and temperatures. Lewis even finds a paper on the formation of waves and trends of underwater currents that appear around the Gold Coast and Australia as a whole. Usually, Lewis would find this stuff endlessly fascinating, but right now Lewis is more worried about finding any sort of mermaid or moon pool research that could be linked back to Cleo, Emma and Rikki.

After several more minutes of frantic searching and finding nothing, Lewis is ready to give up and leave the boat before Denman and her team come back. However, just as Lewis begins to walk back and prepares to jump once more, something out of the corner of his eye suddenly shimmers in the sunlight. Lewis stops suddenly in his tracks and turns towards the direction of where the shimmering light is coming from; he determines that it appears to be originating from a small jar that is half covered by cords and papers. Slowly, Lewis walks over towards the table on which the jar is sitting and picks it up to examine it.

The first thing that Lewis notices is that the jar is filled with water. The second, and more important thing that Lewis observes is the semi-large dark coppery orange fish scale floating in the water. Lewis' heart sinks, realising that Linda certainly hasn't given up on her mermaid research. Of course, Lewis is not particularly surprised by this information, but he really had been hoping that he was wrong and that he was worrying about nothing. Clearly, that is not the case. _'Could Denman have any other evidence of mermaids? Does she have any evidence linking the girls to any of this?'_ Lewis wonders fearfully to himself. Before Lewis can figure out what to do next, a voice interrupts his thoughts and Lewis completely freezes up, heart threatening to leap out of his chest due to fear.

"Lewis?" Linda Denman asks curiously as she steps back onto her boat, closely followed by her two colleagues. Lewis remains standing with his back to Linda, his body completely tensed up.

"I can't say that I'm surprised to find you here," Linda says as she takes a couple of steps towards the teenager. Eventually, the young scientist turns around to face Linda, holding a very particular jar in his hand.

"You haven't given up on the mermaid research, have you?" Lewis replies, gesturing towards the jar he is holding.

"Of course not. How could anyone give something like this up? The secrets of what you're holding could completely change the world as we know it!" Linda exclaims, a small part of her still hoping to get Lewis to understand the importance of this research.

"Look, just forget about the whole magical powers and mermaid thing for a second, okay? Sure, all of that is quite fascinating on its own, but that's not all we can look at. Try and look at the bigger picture, and how all of this could benefit humanity. If cells can completely change themselves into something else, what could that mean for incurable diseases such as cancer? If we could somehow find a way to replicate that sort of cellular transformation, it could change the healthcare industry enormously. By understanding how your friends become mermaids when they touch water, we could save millions of lives, Lewis. Don't you get that?" Linda tries to explain, excitement about the potential things that she could discover on the horizon underlying her voice.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, Doctor, but Cleo, Emma and Rikki aren't mermaids anymore. It's over. I feel like I'm beginning to sound like a broken record here." Lewis responds snappishly.

"See, I just don't believe that, Lewis. Maybe your friends aren't mermaids anymore, but I know that Mako Island has something to do with all of this. That island gave them their powers, and it also took them away. Don't even try to tell me otherwise. I'm getting tired of your constant lies." Linda retaliates coldly.

"I'm not going to help you, if that's what you want to hear." Lewis scowls.

"I wasn't expecting you to," Linda says. There's a tense silence for a few seconds as everyone continues to glare daggers at each other.

"I want you off my boat. And put that jar back." Linda eventually breaks the silence, crossing her arms across her chest while she narrows her eyes at Lewis.

"Get this kid off my boat, please. And don't let him come back." Linda sighs in annoyance when Lewis makes no effort to move. Within an instant, her two burly assistants walk forwards and grab Lewis by his arms, one of the men yanking the jar out of his hand and placing it back down on the table. The two men then begin pulling Lewis off the boat and back down onto the docks, with Linda watching on with a harsh glare.

Once the two men have roughly escorted Lewis back to the end of the pier, they turn around and walk back onto the boat and get back to work, sorting through Linda's files for her. Meanwhile, Linda and Lewis continue to stare at each from across the water that is separating them. Linda can't help but smile smugly, watching as Lewis practically seethes in anger, betrayal and hurt. Perhaps this time, Lewis finally is taking the message and will keep out of her business from now on.

After another moment or two of intense glaring, Lewis eventually sighs defeatedly, seeing no point in staying here any longer. He might as well head back to the cafe and meet up with his friends and break the bad news to them about Denman. Just as Lewis turns around to walk away however, a speed boat suddenly appears from seemingly nowhere and races dangerously close towards the docks. Lewis jumps backwards in surprise, not wanting to get hit by the oncoming speedboat. That would certainly earn him a trip to the hospital with injuries that could possibly last him for life.

Thankfully, the speedboat turns away from the docks in just the nick of time, leaving Lewis in one piece. Lewis' relief is extremely short lived however, as a huge spray of water from the speedboat splashes all over him, drenching Lewis from head to toe while he gasps and splutters in shock. Horror quickly washes over him as he realises what is going to happen next, feeling the water pouring down his body, causing his clothes to cling to his skin. Only sparing a second to quickly glance around him to make sure that no one is close by, Lewis hurriedly dives into the water and awaits for his transformation. Within seconds, Lewis' legs disappear and are replaced by the familiar blue tail, his clothes also nowhere to be seen. Not wanting to hang around in the marina and risk getting caught by anyone — particularly Doctor Denman — Lewis flicks his tail and quickly begins speeding off towards Mako.

Unfortunately for Lewis, in his state of panic and too hasty scan of the area, he did not notice that Doctor Denman had just witnessed that whole incident unfold from her boat. Linda watches in shock as Lewis dives into the water with a distressed look on his face. Linda waits several seconds for Lewis to resurface, but he never does. A cold, cunning smirk begins to creep up onto her face as the pieces of the puzzle begin to click together in her head.

"Well, well. Looks like Lewis has been holding out on me even more than I thought..." Linda mutters in amusement.


	31. Playing with Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, sorry for the slightly delayed update! I didn't have time to edit the chapter yesterday, so I quickly finished it today. I hope you guys enjoy!
> 
> My usual schedule update are Mondays and Fridays. Maybe every now and then, I will throw in an extra chapter throughout the week, depending on how much of the story I have left to write :)

“What?!” Zane and Ash both shout in shock at the exact same time, staring wide eyed at Lewis.

“She still has a scale from one of the girls’ tails,” Lewis repeats with a defeated sigh as he leans back against his bedroom door.

“How the hell did you not get arrested?” Zane asks, flabbergasted.

“I don’t know. She just let me off with a warning to stay out of her way from now on.” Lewis replies with a half-hearted shrug.

“Well, we can’t just let her get away with this! Who knows what could happen if she continues her research on Mako?” Ash exclaims angrily.

“What are we supposed to do to stop her without raising suspicion, though?” Lewis reminds his friend, raising an eyebrow slightly.

“I... uh... I don’t know...” Ash stammers, desperately trying to think of some type of plan.

“At the very least, we should tell Cleo, Emma and Rikki about this. They need to know. You guys have to be a lot more careful in the water now.” Zane says as he begins to pace around Lewis’ room worriedly. If that Denman bitch got her hands on Rikki again... Zane would absolutely lose it and might do things that he would regret later on. He won’t let that Denman chick capture Rikki. He just can’t.

“Yeah, I agree. We have to tell them, Lewis. They’re going to find out at some point.” Ash nods in agreement with Zane.

“I know, I know... I just wish it didn’t have to be this way.” Lewis admits tiredly as he runs a hand over his face, a habit he falls into when he’s stressed about something.

“Look, I’m sure it will all blow over eventually. I doubt Linda will be able to find much scientific evidence on Mako Island and the moon pool’s magic. Lewis, you’ve been working on that for years now, and still haven’t come up with solid answers about it yet. And since Linda doesn’t have access to Cleo, Emma or Rikki, it’s not like she can progress in mermaid studies either. She’ll have to give up eventually.” Ash says as he gets up from Lewis’ bed and walks over to the merman and gives his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“I guess so,” Lewis concedes with a small, but appreciative smile.

“Well, it’s only seven o’clock on a Friday night. Should we organise to meet up with the girls at the JuiceNet Café?” Zane suggests hopefully.

“Sure. Might as well get the conversation over and done with. And don’t worry, I’ll do the talking and I’ll take the blame if they wonder why we didn’t tell them straight away,” Lewis replies with a reassuring nod before pulling out his phone and sending a text to Cleo.

~~~

“Okay, okay, now that we’re all here. What’s this emergency meeting about, Lewis? It’s not even close to a full moon yet, so we don’t need to start preparing now like it’s the end of the world.” Rikki asks with disinterest as she slumps down into the group’s usual café booth next to her boyfriend, Zane.

“It’s not about the full moon, Rikki.” Lewis states seriously, gazing directly across at the girl in question, taking Rikki back by surprise. Of course, Lewis has always been on the anxious side, especially recently with him now being a part of the Secret along with the mermaids, but Rikki has hardly ever seen the level of worry and fear in Lewis’ eyes as she does now. A bad feeling begins to settle in her stomach whilst her heart begins to race nervously. 

“Then why are we here?” Emma asks curiously, but with a bit of an anxious tone underlying her voice, subconsciously moving in closer to Ash.

“Well... it’s about Doctor Denman,” Lewis begins to explain.

“What about that bimbo bitch? Has she come to steal you away from me again?! I still think that her eyes are still way too close together!” Cleo pipes up angrily. Everyone at the table turns to look at her with surprise, not expecting her sudden outburst. Cleo blushes profusely in embarrassment, wishing she could just go and hide to avoid the strange looks that she is getting from her friends.

“I-I mean, uh, what does she want?” Cleo stammers, trying to correct herself while refusing to look anyone in the eye, hoping that her friends won’t try and bring up her outburst later on. Zane and Rikki share a smirk and snicker under their breaths, causing Cleo’s face to heat up even more.

“So, about a week ago, I saw her boat out at sea. I didn’t really know what to make of it at the time. However, only a couple days after that, Linda found me at the café. We went out to a fairly empty park and talked about everything that happened last year. She also told me that she wasn’t trying to expose mermaids anymore, and was purely here for routine environmental observations.” Lewis continues with his explanation, unable to keep his hand from tapping against the table out of anxiousness.

“And you believed her?” Rikki asks incredulously with a scoff, eyebrows rising high enough that they disappear behind her fringe.

“Of course not! I tried to do some more snooping, just to make sure that she was telling the truth. I wasn’t about to let her use you guys as experiments again.” Lewis protests indignantly, wishing that Rikki would have just a little more faith in him sometimes.

“So, what did you find out?” Cleo asks worriedly as she clasps onto Lewis’ hand comfortingly, lacing her fingers between his.

“I snuck onto her boat earlier today, to find something out of the ordinary. I was about to give up, when I finally spotted it.” Lewis says while looking around at each of his anxious friends.

“Come on, just spit it out Lewis!” Rikki groans in annoyance.

“She still has that scale sample from one of your tails.” Lewis sighs. Suddenly, chaos erupts within the group, the three mermaids all shouting at once.

“What?! Did you steal it back from her?” Rikki exclaims angrily.

“How the hell could this happen?” Emma asks with exasperation.

“Does she know about us getting our powers back?” Cleo frowns nervously. 

“Um, to answer your questions, no I didn’t steal the sample, I have no idea how this could have happened, and no she doesn’t know about your powers.” Lewis speaks up after everyone starts to calm down.

“But she’s still determined to find more proof of mermaids?!” Rikki says in a hushed tone, still in complete disbelief about the whole situation.

“Yes, but other than that scale, she has no proof. She can’t link anything to you guys.” Lewis promises the girls reassuringly.

“Are you sure?” Emma asks doubtfully.

“I’m 100% sure. When we were talking, she was extremely bitter when you guys were brought up. Zane and I blew the opportunity of a lifetime, apparently. I think her real focus is figuring out the magic of Mako Island.” Lewis responds. Silence falls over the group as they try to work out what their next moves should be, the quiet mumble of chatter from other patrons of the Juicenet can be heard from somewhere in the background.

“So... what do we do?” Emma eventually speaks up, seeing as no one else will.

“Interfering with Denman and her research would cause too much suspicion. As much as I hate it, I think we need to just let it slide. We can’t give her any reason to think you guys are still mermaids.” Zane replies after a second or two of contemplation.

“What, so we do nothing? Seriously?” Rikki asks with a grimace.

“Do we have a better option?” Lewis tries to reason with Rikki, but she still looks extremely unconvinced.

“I personally would love to boil her alive. Humans are 70% water, after all. No one will know it was us. Why can’t we do that?” Rikki complains.

“Rikki!” Emma hisses, giving her friend a hard glare.

“What?” Rikki asks innocently while looking around at the group, silently asking for some back up, but unfortunately she doesn’t get any.

“Boiling Denman alive isn’t the answer. First of all, that’s illegal and just straight up murder. Second of all, we are above that. We don’t need to stoop down to her level.” Emma attempts to explain to Rikki, who just rolls her eyes in response.

“Fine. I guess I won’t roast her.” Rikki grumbles in annoyance as she looks down at the table with disappointment.

“Wait... Denman doesn’t know about you... does she, Lewis?” Cleo asks suddenly, an icy fear suddenly coursing through her, making her internally wince at the thought of Denman knowing about Lewis being a merman.

“No, definitely not. If she had suspected anything, I’m sure she would have brought it up. She doesn’t know about you guys, or me. I think we’re safe.” Lewis tells his girlfriend with a reassuring smile.

“So, we’re all in agreement to just wait this out?” Ash asks for clarification. 

Lewis nods in response, “Yes. The best thing to do unfortunately is just to wait.”

~~~

Half an hour later, the group of friends begin to disperse from the Juicenet cafe; their Friday night that was supposed to be an unwind from school has now been completely ruined by the fear of Doctor Denman. How much does she really know about mermaids? How far would she be willing to go to find out the whole truth? Are any of them ever really going to be safe? Is there any possibility that Denman could have somehow found out about Cleo, Emma and Rikki regaining their powers? It’s an unsettling feeling for all of the teenagers; the only way they might start feeling a little safer is if Denman leaves the Gold Coast again. She can’t stay here studying Mako forever… can she? Who could even be giving her the funds to all of this research anyway? Are they aware of her ulterior motives for conducting studies on Mako Island?

Soon, Cleo and Lewis are the only ones left at the booth. With neither of them wanting to hang around at the cafe for much longer, Cleo quickly finishes off her juice and the couple get up and make their way out of the cafe also. The sun has sunk down well below the horizon by now, the sky transitioning from a dark orange and purple colour to a dark blue and black hue; stars beginning to sprawl out across the sky. Cleo begins to walk down towards the footpath that follows along the canal and back towards the marina, with Lewis following closely behind her.

“Are you okay?” Lewis frowns as he walks alongside his girlfriend, noticing the solemn look on her face, her eyebrows knitting closely together. Her expression has pretty much remained the same since Lewis had revealed the news about what happened with Doctor Denman earlier that day.

“I don’t know…” Cleo answers with a sigh as she glances down towards the pavement beneath her feet, trying to focus on the sound of her shoes hitting the ground rather than the marine biologist ‘Baywatch babe’ that has come back to ruin all of their lives.

Having a pretty good idea of what might be running through Cleo’s mind right now, Lewis steps around in front of her and holds onto her arms, forcing the mermaid to stop instantly in her tracks. Lewis gazes at his girlfriend seriously and with fiery determination as she finally glances up to look at him with surprise.

“Hey, I’m not going to let Doctor Denman hurt you guys, okay? I’m not going to make the same stupid mistakes, not again. I’ll do everything I can to keep you, Emma and Rikki all safe.” Lewis promises sincerely and reassuringly, his hands sliding down and interlocking with Cleo’s comfortingly.

“I know that you’ll do your best to protect us, but what if that’s not enough? What if she comes after you, too? Even if she doesn’t know about you being a merman, you and Zane still betrayed and humiliated her to the scientific community. She isn’t just going to let that go, Lewis. I just have a bad feeling about all of this.” Cleo says, biting her lip anxiously.

“But what could Linda do about it? No one believes her about the cellular mutation research she did. People will think she is insane if she tells them that she is trying to study mermaids. If anything happened to me — or even Zane for that matter — because of Denman, she would be the one ending up in real trouble, probably landing in jail. It’s going to be fine, Cleo. I promise. We’re going to be okay.” Lewis says, squeezing Cleo’s hands gently.

“I guess you’re right…” Cleo mumbles as her eyes drift towards the ground, clearly still not completely convinced.

“Besides. We managed to outsmart her once before, right? If we had to, I’m sure we could outsmart her again,” Lewis adds with a cheeky grin. His grin widens when Cleo chuckles lightly in response, her gaze lifting back up and meeting Lewis’ once more. 

“She really didn’t count on Zane betraying her, did she?” Cleo comments with a smirk.

“Nope. Nor did she know that an eclipse only takes away the magic for 12 hours.” Lewis replies.

“At the time, we didn’t even know that the eclipse only removed powers temporarily!” Cleo protests, nudging Lewis playfully.

“Well, technically I knew about it, remember? Ms Chatham insisted that I didn’t tell you guys the truth until after the fact.” Lewis says smugly in return.

“Ah, yes. How could I forget about that? But no matter; I think Emma, Rikki and I got our revenge on you for keeping the truth from us,” Cleo says while quickly raising an eyebrow in a mischievous manner.

“I can’t believe you left me up there on that water spout for two hours!” Lewis exclaims indignantly, his eyes widening and hands slipping out of Cleo’s before beginning to flail around wildly in an attempt to get his point across. Lewis hopes that Cleo can’t tell how much he is trying to hold back a smile.

“No one messes with mermaids.” Cleo reminds her boyfriend in a low, half serious voice while staring at Lewis intensely, a mischievous smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Lewis smirks in response, pulling his hands out of Cleo’s and places them on her waist instead, pulling the girl right in close to him. Cleo makes a small noise of surprise at the sudden movement, but happily allows Lewis to pull her in close, their faces mere inches away from each other at this point. 

“Is that so, huh?” Lewis raises his eyebrows slightly, the crooked grin growing even wider on his face, an almost dark glint lighting up within his eyes, causing Cleo’s heart to skip a beat.

“Yep. No one,” Cleo nods her head in response, feeling a little breathless.

“Oh, yeah? Not even by a merman?” Lewis’ tone is heavily laced with concupiscence, hands still on Cleo’s waist.

“Hmm, well, I guess that depends,” Cleo says mischievously as a wicked smile begins to form, trailing her hands over Lewis’ chest. Before Lewis can even open his mouth to comment in response, Cleo quickly leans in and closes the last couple inches of distance between them, her lips capturing his in a lustful, passionate kiss, closing her eyes as she does so, feeling electrifying sparks flow throughout her body.

It doesn’t take long for Lewis to reciprocate, deepening the kiss longingly, enjoying the sweet taste of her peach chapstick and the warmth of the mermaid’s lips. His hands move up towards her face, cupping it gently while Cleo’s hands become entangled in Lewis’ mess of blond hair. Lewis hums happily into the kiss, wishing that the two of them could stay in this moment forever.

Eventually though, Cleo pulls away slightly to catch her breath again, her heart still racing with excitement. Her eyes flutter open after another couple of seconds and she smiles breathlessly at Lewis, whose ocean blue eyes are already gazing down to meet Cleo’s own hazel-green eyes.

“I guess we should both be heading back home now, huh?” Cleo comments, unable to help but feel a little disappointed that they can’t take this moment any further.

“I mean, you could just go home if that’s what you want,” Lewis shrugs mysteriously, lowering his hands down from Cleo’s face while Cleo’s hands remain buried within Lewis’ hair.

“What else, though?” Cleo frowns in confusion as she twirls Lewis’ blond locks between her fingers.

“Or, we could go back to my place for the night. My mum and my brothers have gone out to stay with my grandfather’s overnight, and are going to help him finally start sorting through grandma’s old things in the morning, figuring out what to keep and what to sell.” Lewis explains.

“Why aren’t you there with them, then?” Cleo asks with a slightly raised eyebrow.

“Does it matter?” Lewis’ smile falters slightly, not wanting his troubles with his family, especially Lenny, ruining the mood right now.

“I suppose not,” Cleo says, quickly getting the message to steer clear from the topic of family for a while.

“Well, in that case, I’ll text my dad that I’m staying at Emma’s for the night. Dad would kill me if he knew I was with you. I’ll warn Emma about it, too.” Cleo decides with a small nod, her body still feeling somewhat electrified.

“Sounds good.” Lewis chuckles.

“Let’s get going then. I really want to get back to where we left off,” Cleo says with a wink, quickly leaning in and pressing a teasing kiss to Lewis’ lips while moving her hands out from Lewis’ hair, gripping onto his shirt instead, pulling him in closer towards her. Cleo starts to leave a trail of small, sweet kisses from Lewis’ lips and trails all the way down to the bottom of his neck. The sweetness of Cleo's trailing lips quickly changes into something more lustful as she sucks on his skin for a couple of seconds, causing Lewis to gasp a little in surprise. The mermaid then begins to pull away just as fast as she had first leaned in towards her boyfriend, turning around on her feet, heading off in the direction towards Lewis’ house, smiling excitedly and mischievously to herself.

Lewis stares after his girlfriend longingly for a couple of moments feeling dazed and in awe; his mind is frantically scrambling to function properly again, as if it had been short circuiting. Once the merman finally comes back to his senses, he stumbles forwards and hurries after his girlfriend, not wanting to be left behind.


	32. Catch of the Day

The rest of the weekend is fairly intense and stressful for Lewis, Cleo, Emma, Ash, Rikki, and Zane. None of them have any clue on what might happen, or what exactly Doctor Denman is up to. The six teenagers decide to keep a low profile and stay at home wherever they can, focusing on their schoolwork. A part of all of them still really wants to know what Denman is up to, but as the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. Their interest in what Denman is working on is not worth the risk of any of them accidentally revealing themselves to the marine biologist.

Even Rikki, who was the most against the idea of staying as far away from Denman as possible, hasn’t risked leaving her house this weekend. It didn’t end up being as bad as she thought it would. It allowed her to spend some more time with her dad, which they haven’t done much of lately, so that was nice. It was good to not have to stress about anything and just hang out with her dad, mainly talking and playing card games all weekend. The curly blonde mermaid decides that she will have to make more of an effort in the future to spend time with her dad. Her friends and mermaid life are important of course, but so is Rikki’s very small family. It needs to be equal. If nothing else, this weekend has at least taught her that. However, the fiery teenager can’t help but hate that Doctor Denman is indirectly the very reason for Rikki and her dad growing closer together again after they had started to drift apart in the last couple of years. Rikki does her best to try and not dwell on this fact.

Lewis’ weekend, whilst fairly uneventful — aside from the Friday night that Cleo spent at his house, of course — did start to rack up guilt inside of him. Lenny once again tried to get Lewis to open up about what was going on with him, but of course, Lewis refused to say anything. Eventually, Lenny gave up and walked away, but the look on his face as he did so absolutely broke Lewis. Zac, Jacob, and Daniel also tried to talk to Lewis, but again they couldn’t get anything out of him and gave up way quicker than Lenny did. As for Lewis’ mum, Lewis knows that she understands that something is up, but doesn’t even know how to approach Lewis about it, which just makes Lewis’ heart ache. Lewis hates lying to his family like this. He hates that they are worried about him so much, especially Lenny. Lewis wishes that he could just tell them all the truth, but he knows that’s just not possible.

Staying over at Lewis’ on that Friday night had ended up being a great decision for Cleo, and not just because she and Lewis finally slept together, although that was pretty exciting. But it also managed to get her away from her family too, even just for a short while. Especially Kim. Having the house to herself with Lewis almost felt like a dream. She can definitely see the two of them moving into an apartment together at some point after graduation. The thought makes Cleo’s heart leap with joy and anticipation. Unfortunately, the dream feeling couldn’t last long, quickly disappearing when she headed back to her own house mid-Saturday morning, regretfully returning to reality.

Cleo and Kim fought for the better part of Saturday, as well as Sunday morning, much to their father’s frustration; Don Sertori was at his breaking point with his two daughters for the whole weekend. Cleo knows that her father is immensely relieved that the weekend is over and that everyone will be going back to work and school. The mermaid hopes that her dad doesn’t force her and Kim to have some bonding time together, as that has happened several times in the past after major fights. The “bonding” sessions never end well for the two sisters anyway, only causing more arguments. With Denman potentially onto Cleo and her friends again, Cleo doesn’t need any other major frustrations in her life right now.

As for Emma, Ash, and Zane, their weekends were extremely mundane and boring, with no groundbreaking revelations about their lives being made, unlike Rikki or Cleo, nor did they have massive family arguments like Cleo or Lewis. Emma spent the entire weekend studying for an upcoming physics test, not wanting a grade lower than an ‘A’. Both Ash and Zane mostly just chilled out and watched TV at their own respective homes.

Eventually, the weekend comes to a close much to everyone’s relief, especially Lewis’. The six friends are excited to see each other that Monday at school, happy to finally be out of their house again. None of them liked the feeling of being locked down, even though they know it’s for their own safety.

After school, the group decides to head on down to the beach that sits right next to the marina, trying to scope out whether or not Denman and her team are still lurking about on the coast, waiting for some sort of miraculous breakthrough in Mako Island or mermaid research. Much to the group’s surprise though, Doctor Denman’s boat isn’t in the marina. The six teenagers ask around about the marine biologist’s boat, but according to the locals that live in the houses along the beach, Denman’s boat hasn’t been seen back here in a couple of days. Could it be possible that Denman has finally given up on her search due to a lack of leads? Lewis and the others certainly hope that is the case.

~~~

By the next Friday evening, a week after Lewis discovered that Denman is continuing with her mermaid research, no one has been able to find Doctor Denman or her team anywhere, neither on the mainland nor on Mako Island; it’s as if the marine biologist suddenly vanished into thin air. Lewis and the others begin to relax, feeling like they could be in the clear. They needed some good luck recently, considering how many twists have been thrown at them in the past couple of years, so the group of friends will happily take this victory. 

Neither Lewis, Cleo, Emma, nor Rikki has been swimming at all in the past week, just trying to be a little extra precaution in case of the very off chance that Denman is still lurking around the Gold Coast, or has perhaps set up underwater cameras around Mako, just as she did last time. The four of them have desperately missed the ocean though, their tethered connection to the ocean and Mako Island constantly itching at the back of their minds, urging them to go out. 

Lewis is starting to get worried that if this is how it’s always going to be if he doesn’t go in the water outside of a full moon, how much worse will the pull of the ocean be on the night of a full moon, especially if he or one of the mermaids catches a glimpse of moonlight? The consequences could be disastrous and Lewis wants to avoid that potential situation at all costs. The regular moon spells are bad enough; there is no need to exponentially increase the pull and power of them and inevitably becoming more dangerous.

However, having finally decided that it has been long enough since Denman was last seen in town and desperately wanting to stop his mind from being constantly anxious about the marine biologist situation even just for a few hours, Lewis has organised a date with Cleo at Mako Island tonight. He set up the picnic in the moon pool a couple of hours beforehand, knowing that it would take a couple of trips to bring and set everything up. The sandy blond teen wants everything to be perfect for tonight, especially how chaotic has been for him and his friends lately.

Currently, Lewis is on his way back to Mako Island to wait for Cleo to meet him there, satisfied with the certainty of not having forgotten anything back on the mainland. He does wish that. The plan was to meet up by the marina and swim out to Mako together for the date, but Cleo called earlier in the afternoon, announcing that she was going to be held back at work later than expected. Lewis isn’t too fussed about that, as it has given him more time to just swim through coral reefs and play around with the colourful schools of fish and a pod of dolphins on the way out to the island anyway. However, as soon as his waterproof watch starts beeping to let him know that Cleo should finally be leaving work now, Lewis grins happily to himself and quickly begins swimming towards the underwater moon pool entrance.

In next to no time at all, Lewis arrives at the entrance of the underwater tunnel and swiftly swims through, still a little surprised at how quickly he has gotten the hang of all of this merman business when looking at the entire scheme of things. Sure, Lewis struggled for the first month and a bit of being a merman, but as he started to accept his new life, it quickly became a lot easier to learn how to manage it. This in turn helped him learn to swim faster as well as master his hydrokinesis powers moderately easily after that.

Lewis speedily makes his way through the underwater tunnel and swims out into the expansion of space of the moon pool. Lewis gives his tail a couple more small flicks and suddenly he emerges from the water with a splash as he breaks the surface of the water, taking his first breath of air in at least 15 minutes. The merman grins as he looks around him, admiring the handiwork that he has put in to make the cavern look cozy and date night worthy. Lewis is impressed with his efforts if he does say so himself. Especially with the battery fairy lights hung up around the back of the cave, making it feel just that little bit more magical. He’s sure Cleo is going to love it.

Suddenly, Lewis hears the sounds of footsteps getting closer from somewhere down in the tunnel that leads back up to the land entrance. Lewis is startled by the noise, not expecting anyone to come into the moon pool from that direction, especially not Cleo. Why tumble down the rocks and potentially hurt yourself when you have a tail and can easily swim in? It’s so much quicker than navigating through the rough terrain of the island to find the whole in the rocks that lead down here. Perhaps she was trying to surprise him, or attempt to playfully scare him maybe?

“Cleo? Is that you?” Lewis calls out with a mischievous smile creeping onto his face as he swims closer towards the rocky ledge of the moon pool, trying to peer around into the tunnel as the footsteps continue to get closer and closer, crunching against the gravelly sand. Lewis’ smile quickly disappears though, as a feeling of horror courses through his body when a terribly familiar voice that isn’t Cleo’s answers the boy’s question, sending chills down Lewis’ spine and causing his eyes to widen in horror.

“Hmm, I’m afraid not, Lewis. Sorry to disappoint you.” Doctor Linda Denman says as she steps into the moon pool cavern, quickly followed by a burly-looking male assistant. Lewis is completely frozen for a couple of seconds, his mind feeling like it has stopped working as everything crashes down around him and he swears that his heart stops beating while his blood runs cold. Surely this has to be some sort of nightmare that he is going to wake up from any minute.

“So, not only do mermaids exist, but mermen are real as well,” Linda comments thoughtfully, her mind whirling with a thousand theories about what the possibility of this could mean.

The teenager finally snaps out of his initial shock and terror of seeing Denman in the moon pool staring menacingly down at him. Not wanting to stick around to try and find out what the marine biologist’s next move is, Lewis hurries begins to turn around without saying a word and makes means to dive back underwater and swim away from Mako as fast as his fins can carry him, hoping he can reach Cleo on his way back to warn her.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” Linda cries out from behind Lewis in a commanding tone. 

“Like hell, I won’t! See ya!” Lewis yells back aggressively in response before diving back underwater with a large splash, just as he hears a loud _**bang**_ from somewhere behind him. Within the next second, a sudden wave of burning pain hits Lewis’ back and quickly engulfs his body. Confusion quickly turns into horror as Lewis realises that he has become entangled in some sort of tight netting that is almost cutting into his skin. 

As the overwhelming surge of panic and terror of the thought of being captured by Denman begins to set in, Lewis furiously tries to untangle himself from the tight netting, thrashing all about underneath the water which is now filled with bubbles, making it hard to see his surroundings. Unfortunately, his desperate attempts of escape only end up making the netting wrap even tighter and more intricately around his body, starting to painfully dig into his scales. Lewis winces and quickly stops struggling against his new restraints, beginning to accept the fact that he is not going to be able to tear his way through this netting and escape. Denman would never allow that to happen anyway. He’s trapped; caught up in a fishing net, like some wounded wild animal. 

With no other alternatives coming to mind, once the storm of bubbles around him begins to die down, Lewis awkwardly swims back up towards the surface, which he finds considerably harder than usual. He puts this down to the fact that his whole body is being tightly constricted by the netting tangling up all around him, making it hard to even move his tail. Once Lewis resurfaces, he slowly makes his way over towards the rocky underwater ledge by the edge of the moon pool so that he has a place to rest on, instead of struggling to stay afloat whilst ensnared by the netting.

“I _was _trying to warn you, Lewis. We didn’t have to use the net if you hadn’t tried to swim away, you know,” Linda comments, a smirk plastered on her face as she watches Lewis struggle around in the water. Lewis glares up at her angrily but stays silent. Honestly, Lewis is at a loss for what to say or do right now. He doubts that there are any words in the English language that could even begin to describe what he is currently feeling.__

____

__“You really thought that I didn’t learn from last time? If you want to catch a difficult fish, the best way to do so is with a net.” Linda says as she paces back and forth around the moon pool, keeping her eyes on Lewis the entire time._ _

“I can’t believe that you’d hold out on me so much, Lewis. I never expected that you would eventually become one of those… those _things_. I always hoped that you’d eventually come to your senses, finally seeing reason and rejoining me in my research to help humanity. Such a shame,” Linda continues, shaking her head in disappointment. Once again, Lewis says nothing and merely continues to glare between Doctor Denman and her assistant, who is standing right at the back of the cavern, eyeing Lewis carefully.

“I have so many questions; I don’t even know where to begin. But that’s okay. We have all the time in the world to find the answers, Lewis.” Linda grins as she kneels down on the sandy floor in front of Lewis, watching as he once again hopelessly tries to pull apart the netting to try and set himself free.

“Useful thing, net guns. Very effective. Plus, my wonderful assistant Troy over here has great shooting skills. Wouldn’t you agree, eh, Lewis?” Linda says as she reaches out towards the netting, running a finger over the tightly bound pieces of rope woven together, admiring the winning prize that she has managed to capture within the net.

Lewis flinches and tries to move away from Denman’s grasp as much as possible.

“What do you want from me?” The teenager spits out, finally finding his voice as his anger begins to reach a boiling point.

“Oh, you know... Just trying to figure out how something like you can exist. Once we know that, then we’ll try to replicate your cellular transformation mutation and use it to benefit humanity. Plus all of the regular observations and research scientists undertake when we discover a new species, of course. The number of scientific journals and articles we could publish about you...” Linda says, glee written all across her face.

“Yeah, that’s never gonna happen. You’d have to kill me first!” Lewis scoffs defiantly.

“Oh, Lewis. Don’t worry, I’m sure you will be dead by the time that we are eventually through with you. But your sacrifice for the good of science will be greatly appreciated for decades to come.” Linda laughs dryly.

Once again, Lewis tries to flip and thrash his tail around as hard as he can in a last-ditch effort to try and break the net, sending water everywhere. To no one’s surprise and Lewis’ disappointment, his attempts are useless. He makes a grunt of annoyance as he continues to glare daggers up at Doctor Denman. Oh, if only looks could kill.

“Look, here’s the deal, Lewis. I’m only going to tell you this once. In case you decide to do anything reckless and impulsive with us, I think that you should at least be aware that we still have plenty of information on Cleo, Emma, and Rikki. Considering you’re a merman, I suspect that your friends must have gotten their powers back somehow as well. I’m sure they would also be very interesting specimens to dissect. I’d love to know how they got their powers back.” Linda continues, the tone of her voice and facial expression changing drastically, becoming cold and sinister.

“Leave the girls out of this!” Lewis yells threateningly as his tail furiously slaps against the water’s surface, hard. The harsh impact sends water flying everywhere, including all over Doctor Denman, but she barely reacts, hardly even flinching. It was completely predictable that Lewis would get angry as soon as she mentioned the mermaids. If anything, his reaction could have been way worse. This leads Linda to suspect that Lewis might not be as comfortable with his powers as his friends yet.

 _‘Maybe Lewis doesn’t even know what power he has yet, or how to use it?'_ Linda wonders silently to herself, deciding that she’ll have to dig deeper into that question later. 

“That all depends on you, Lewis. If you cooperate with us, I promise that I will leave Cleo, Emma, and Rikki alone. That’s my deal. But when I say you have to cooperate, I expect you to do anything we ask of you, without question. If not, well, our deal is up and your friends will join you in a display tank.” Linda responds calmly as she wipes droplets of water away from her eyes.

Lewis glares at Linda, unable to believe how insane this woman has become. How the hell did he ever look up to her?

“You can’t do this! You can’t get away with this!” Lewis shouts angrily as he continues to stare up at his two captors.

“Hmm, see, that’s where you’re wrong. I _can_ do this, and this whole thing is being funded by someone who I think is going to have a particular interest in you, Mr. McCartney. He has thrown a huge amount of money into this research study, after all; much more than anyone would ever get paid for doing boring fish population counts,” Linda says with a sickeningly sweet and false smile.

“You can’t just kidnap people!” Lewis hisses back at the so-called ‘scientist’.

“Oh, but you’re forgetting that you’re not a human being anymore; you’re a fish. We can do whatever we want to you. And besides, my team and I have been very careful about all of this to be on the side of caution. Thanks to the help of my benefactor, your disappearance will never be able to be traced back to us. It will be as if you simply just disappeared off the face of the earth.” Linda smirks sinisterly.

Lewis feels like he is going to be sick. How can any of this be happening to him right now? All he wanted was to have a well-deserved date night with Cleo, but somehow he has managed to be captured in a humiliating and dehumanising way by Doctor Denman, the marine biologist that Lewis used to look up to and aspire to be like for many years.

“Just... just don’t hurt my friends. Please. I’ll do anything,” Lewis cries softly, finally lowering his gaze down towards the water and begins to curl in on himself by bringing his tail as close up to his chest as he can, starting to give in to defeat. How can he try and fight against this? It’s impossible; there’s no escape for him. All Lewis can do now is protect Cleo and the others as much as he possibly can. The merman refuses to let them meet the same fate that he has.

“As I told you before; their lives are in your hands, Mr. McCartney. Choose wisely.” Denman states coldly as she finally gets back up on her feet, sneering at Lewis’ cowering position, looking like some sort of wounded animal. Linda then glances over to Troy and gives him a quick nod.

“Hand me the sedation needle, would you, Troy? I’m ready to get this creature back to our lab.”


	33. Stood Up

As soon as Cleo finishes her extended shift at work — she had to stay back and help with deliveries — she excitedly rushes back home to get changed out of her work uniform and puts on a yellow sundress instead. Once she has changed, put some light makeup on and collected her phone and keys, Cleo runs back downstairs, says a quick goodbye to her dad and Kim, explaining that she is going to meet Lewis and will be back later tonight, and then hurries out of the house. 

Cleo walks towards the canal facing the back of her house as fast as possible, excited to get to Mako and meet up with Lewis. The two of them haven’t had a proper date in quite a while now, probably not since Lewis became a merman anyway. Doctor Denman coming back to town has certainly delayed their usually weekly date nights as well. Cleo has been starting to miss their date nights and is immensely glad that they decided to organise one tonight. Cleo feels bad that she had to keep Lewis waiting longer than he should have been, but unfortunately, she couldn’t get out of work early; the marine park already had several staff members out of action due to illness.

As Cleo approaches the canal, she quickly glances around her to make sure that no one is watching. Once she confirms that the coast is clear, Cleo then dives gracefully into the water. 10 seconds later, Cleo transforms into a mermaid in a swirl of bubbles, her legs being replaced with a long, orange and gold scaly tail. Cleo grins to herself, still getting an exciting thrill course through her as she transforms. Not wanting Lewis to wait for her any longer, Cleo begins speeding off towards Mako Island, surrounded by a whirl of bubbles as she cuts through the water. Cleo’s hair flies behind her as she continues to race towards the island, her tail flipping furiously. 

As she continues to swim out into the open ocean, bubbles rushing past her face, Cleo can’t help but think about how happy she is now that she gets to share this part of her world with Lewis, now that he’s a merman. Sure, the two of them had gone swimming together before Lewis was turned, but snorkelling is nothing compared to having a tail and feeling like you are at one with the ocean and sea life around you. The last couple of months have brought the couple closer together, which Cleo hadn’t thought could have been possible until now since they have always been practically inseparable and in love with each other all of their lives. She hopes that Lewis is truly beginning to enjoy his new lifestyle and able to see the many benefits that come with it.

After another 15 minutes or so, Cleo finally arrives at the underwater tunnel entrance into the moon pool. Before entering the tunnel, however, the mermaid hurriedly stops in her tracks, lurching forwards into a complete halt; her arms flailing out in front of her to break her speed even more. An uneasy feeling is beginning to form in her stomach, while doubt swirls around in her mind. Cleo isn’t sure why, but something doesn’t feel right. The mermaid frowns worriedly and glances around her quickly, scanning the area for any signs of danger. Not seeing any immediate threats, Cleo starts swimming forward again, albeit hesitantly, making her way through the underwater tunnel. Once the tunnel opens up into a much larger space, Cleo quickly swims up to the surface and finally lets out a breath for the first time since diving into the canal. 

“Lewis?” Cleo calls out as she looks around the moon pool with curiosity, quickly forgetting about her strangely sudden concerns. On the sandy ground sits a pile of large pillows, a laptop, a CD player, a picnic blanket, an assortment of foods and a bottle of lemonade (Cleo’s favourite) as well as candles dotted around the cave. Lewis had even managed to hang fairy lights up on the back wall of the cave.

“Wow...” Cleo mumbles in awe, impressed with all of the trouble that Lewis has gone to for tonight; it is clear that he has missed their date nights just as much as she has. Cleo paddles forward over to the underwater rocky ledge of the pool and rests her arms against it, waiting for Lewis to arrive from around the corner of the land entrance tunnel with his usual goofy and lovable smile spread across his face. 

Several more minutes go by, but Lewis is still a no show. Cleo starts getting a little anxious, shifting her position uncomfortably on the rocky underwater ledge. He should have been here by now... unless Lewis somehow forgot that the plan was to meet up at the moon pool? What if he had gone to meet Cleo at her work?

“Lewis, are you here?” Cleo calls out, more loudly than she did the first time. The only response she gets is the sound of her voice echoing off the cave’s walls. The mermaid attempts to gulp down the lump that is forming in her throat; the unsettling feeling in her stomach beginning to grow rapidly as a cold shiver runs down her spine, along with goosebumps appearing on her arms.

“Lewis!” Cleo shouts out again, looking around the cavern frantically for any signs of her boyfriend. It is clear that Lewis had been in here earlier, proven by his elaborate setup of the cave. But where the hell was Lewis now? What if something bad has happened to him? What if he has tripped and fallen somewhere on the island? The worrying possibilities continue to add up in Cleo’s head and she begins to get more desperate and fearful. What could be taking Lewis so long? When she had rung Lewis earlier, it had sounded like he was already on his way over to Mako to wait for her, so why wasn’t he here now?

“Lewis, come on! This isn’t funny! Where are you?!” Cleo yells, still glancing around the cavern, searching for any clues. Eventually, her eyes begin to focus on the sandy ground of the cave in front of her. Cleo’s eyebrows furrow into a frown as she notices there to be lots of footprints in the sand; there are way too many footprints to belong to just one person.

Trying not to panic, Cleo hurriedly scans the edges of the moon pool for any more potential clues as to where Lewis could have gone. Or, perhaps even more importantly, finding clues to figure out who else could have been in here with Lewis? Could Lewis and the others be playing some stupid prank on Cleo to try and scare her? _‘I swear to god if they are all hiding outside the land entrance or something and are waiting for me to have a panic attack, I am going to kill them,’_ Cleo promises bitterly to herself.

After a few more minutes of desperate searching — which included Cleo diving back underwater and checking the tunnel that leads back out into the ocean just on the off chance of Lewis making his way back —, Cleo suddenly spots something glistening between a tiny gap in the curved, rocky edge of the moon pool, making Cleo pause for a moment and snapping her out of her spiralling thoughts. Relieved to have at last potentially found a clue, the mermaid slowly swims over towards the hardly noticeable gap in between the rocks where she had thought she had seen the shimmering object, curiosity beginning to overtake her. Within only a few seconds of investigation of the rocky gap, Cleo quickly discovers what is causing the refracting light. 

The mermaid reaches out and grabs the delicate object with her hand and raises it to her eye level to get a better look at it. Almost instantly, Cleo recognises it as a fish scale, but it’s much too large to belong to most fish, not to mention it’s shinier than most fish scales she has ever found on any fish besides herself... the scale also happens to be a sapphire blue. All of these little clues put together are more confirmation to Cleo that Lewis was most definitely here in the moon pool at some point not too long ago, maybe even several minutes ago.

However, an icy and dreadful fear starts to slowly creep into her soul as Cleo begins to realise that Lewis probably isn’t anywhere near Mako Island, not anymore. The mermaid also has a horrible suspicion that Lewis was not here in the moon pool alone, and that whoever the extra footsteps in the cavern belong to must have something to do with why Lewis has mysteriously disappeared. As much as she hopes that it’s just her friends trying to play a cruel prank on her, deep down Cleo knows that is almost definitely not the case.

“Lewis!” Cleo cries out one last time out of desperation but knows it’s hopeless. Her eyes begin to sting as tears start falling down the teen’s face, and her throat starts to tighten from the sobs building up in her chest.

“Where are you?” The mermaid lets out a shaky whisper as she stares down at the fish scale laying in her hand. Cleo struggles to keep her breathing under control, feeling on the verge of a panic attack. Something terrible has happened to Lewis, she can just feel it. Ugh, if only she didn’t have to stay behind at work today! Maybe if she had gotten here at the original time that they planned, Lewis would have been okay and they could have had their date as planned. Or, at the very least, they could have protected each other from the unwanted strangers in the moon pool. She should have been here for Lewis, and now she is paying the price for it.

Cleo sniffles and tries to take some deep breaths, closing her eyes for a moment in an attempt to calm herself down. She needs to think logically about this. Maybe Lewis isn’t actually in any danger, and this is all just an overreaction on her part? What if he’s just forgotten something and swam back home to get it? But how can that explain the extra footprints in the sand of the cave? Who could have been in here? Why would anyone apart from Cleo and her friends even want to come down here, let alone know that this place exists?

Cleo’s internal detective work continues to go round and round in circles for several more minutes, unfortunately not making any sort of progress on figuring out where Lewis could be. If anything, the mermaid now feels even more scared and confused. Cleo sighs in defeat as she opens her eyes and slumps against the rocky ledge of the moon pool, wondering how tonight could have gone so wrong. Just as they were all starting to get on top of things, too. God, why does life have to suck so much?

After another 15 minutes of floating aimlessly in the moon pool, with still a small slither of hope that Lewis might come around the corner at any moment, Cleo eventually decides to head back to the mainland. If Lewis was still even remotely nearby, he definitely would have shown up by now. It’s not like him to just disappear without giving a reason or an apology. Whatever has happened here in the moon pool tonight, Cleo knows that she can’t figure it out on her own. She needs to let her friends know about Lewis. Maybe they already know where he is?

With one more glance around the cave, Cleo clasps onto the fish scale tightly in her hand as she pushes off from the rocky ledge, taking a deep breath and diving back underwater. Cleo begins to swim out of the moon pool, heading back towards the mainland.

~~~

“Wait, slow down, Cleo! You’re talking too fast; we can’t understand you. Just breathe and talk a little more slowly, okay? Why did you want us all to meet here?” Emma says as she watches the brunette mermaid back and forth nervously in the Gilbert’s living room while she, Rikki, Ash and Zane are all sitting on the couch.

“It’s about Lewis. He’s... he’s...” Cleo tries again to explain, her heart feeling like it is caught in her throat.

“He’s what? Strange? A nerd? Yes, we all know that.” Rikki smirks, causing Zane to chuckle in amusement.

“Rikki! This isn’t a joking matter! I think that Lewis could be missing!” Cleo exclaims exasperatedly as she finally stops pacing and turns to face her friends breathlessly.

“What do you mean, ‘missing’?” Emma frowns in concern, leaning forwards a little more in her seat.

“What the hell do you think I mean? That Lewis is hiding from me just for some sort of game? No! I mean _really_ missing! I think that he’s in trouble!” Cleo cries out in frustration, running her hands through her hair in distress.

“What makes you think that, Cleo? What happened?” Ash asks worriedly.

“We were supposed to be going on a date tonight, out on Mako Island. The moon pool was all set up, but Lewis never showed up...” Cleo mumbles sadly, her heart clenching in fear for her boyfriend.

“Maybe he just got too scared and stood you up?” Rikki suggests jokingly, earning cold, unamused glares from both Cleo and Emma.

“I’m only joking, sheesh. Tough crowd.” Rikki adds, raising her hands in surrender. Emma rolls her eyes in annoyance.

“Can’t you see that Cleo is very upset?” Emma says to Rikki, gesturing towards their distraught friend standing in the middle of the room.

“Hey, she was just trying to lighten the mood,” Zane interjects, coming to his girlfriend’s defence.

“Well, it’s not helping, so just stop,” Emma replies snappily. Cleo clears her throat awkwardly, not wanting a fight amongst her friends to break out, especially when there are more important things going on at the moment. Everyone turns their attention back to the brunette.

“Lewis would have called me if he couldn’t have made it tonight, but I haven’t heard anything from him. He’s not answering any of my calls or my texts. Something is definitely wrong, I can feel it. I’m really scared...” Cleo admits, her voice wobbling a little bit, her eyes beginning to well up with tears.

“Hey, it’ll be okay, Cleo. We can work this out together.” Emma says reassuringly as she stands up and walks over to her friend, pulling her into a quick hug.

“Yeah. I’m sure Lewis will be fine. He’s smart enough to be able to look after himself. Lewis will probably show up sometime tomorrow with an endless, rambling apology. Maybe he just lost track of time swimming? I’m sure there are plenty of possibilities as to why Lewis didn’t show up at Mako or answering your calls. Let’s not jump straight to conclusions that something bad has happened, okay?” Rikki adds as she also gets up from the couch and makes her way over to Cleo and Emma, resting a hand on Cleo’s shoulder comfortingly once Cleo and Emma pull apart from their hug.

“I really hope you guys are right...” Cleo sniffles as she uses her hand to wipe away the tears rapidly falling down her cheeks. She gives her friends a small but appreciative smile, trying to show them that she does feel a little bit better after hearing their reassurances. However, deep down, no matter how much she tries to convince herself otherwise, Cleo knows that something terrible has happened to Lewis. And somehow, if they ever want to see Lewis again, she and her friends have to figure out exactly what happened, how it happened and why.


	34. Subject A

Lewis slowly begins to wake up, opening his eyes groggily, feeling dazed and confused, unable to remember anything since heading out to the moon pool for his date with Cleo. _‘Where am I?’_ Lewis silently wonders to himself, feeling queasy as his mind and vision spin out of control, giving the teenager a massive headache.

As the disgruntled merman slowly comes back to his senses and becomes more aware of his surroundings as he slowly regains full consciousness, Lewis finds himself lying strapped down to some sort of metal table; his ankles and wrists cuffed to the said table to prevent him from escaping. The boy is also startled to see that he has been stripped down to his underwear, feeling the icy coldness of the metal underneath him. Glancing around the dimly lit room in a hurried panic, the teenage scientist tries to pick up on any sort of clues that could give him an idea of where the hell he could be. 

Unfortunately, the room is extremely bare; the floor appears to just be worn down concrete while the walls are tiled in an off-white colour, providing no windows that would allow in sunlight and clues as to where Lewis is. It also appears that the only objects currently in this mystery room are the cold metal table that Lewis is already lying on and a small trolley a few meters away from the table with all sorts of needles and other medical equipment neatly lying on top of it. The sight of the medical instruments causes Lewis’ heart to skip a beat and the saliva in his throat begins to thicken, which he tries to swallow down. Deciding that he doesn’t want to stick around and find out what those instruments are for, the merman attempts to pull his wrists and ankles free, but his efforts are in vain. If anything, Lewis makes his situation worse by digging the restraints into his skin, causing red marks and even a couple of droplets of blood to appear where the cuffs are cutting deepest into his skin.

Lewis eventually gives up on trying to wriggle out of the restraints, realising that it’s a hopeless endeavour. Whoever put him here obviously isn’t just going to let him wander out so easily. That brings Lewis to his next line of thought: how did he get here and who would have brought him here? Suddenly, his most recent memories from before he woke up hit the merman all at once, like an out of control train. He was here because of Linda Denman. Lewis grinds his teeth in annoyance and his nose wrinkles in disgust at the mere thought of the Doctor, upset that he most likely will have to deal with her again sometime very soon. 

Continuing to lie on the metal table like some sort of lab rat, Lewis sighs and stares up at the ceiling in defeat. He has no idea of when something is going to happen, if anything were to happen at all. The anxiety-ridden teenager is already losing track of time: there aren’t any windows in the room, so Lewis can’t even tell what time of day it is. For all that he knew, he could have already been lying here on this strange table for several hours, or maybe just a few minutes. Either way, Lewis strongly suspects that he is being watched by someone from somewhere. He supposes that he needs to try and get used to being watched in this strange place; this is going to be his new life and will eventually become normality, after all. Denman is never going to let him go. Lewis just hopes that she will stick to her end of the deal of not hurting Cleo, Emma or Rikki. 

A small flood of relief flows through the teenager, thankful that at least his girlfriend and the rest of his friends are still safe. It doesn’t matter what happens to him, just as long as the mermaids don’t get hurt. Lewis still completely blames himself for Linda finding out about his friends in the first place. It was an incredibly stupid idea to try and sneak into her lab to examine DNA samples from Cleo, and even more foolish of him to accidentally leave the sample behind for Doctor Denman to see. His infatuation with her work had completely disarmed his ability to think logically.

As the minutes — possibly hours — tick by, the aspiring young scientist begins to get more and more tired of just waiting around for nothing to happen. If Denman and her team wanted to experiment on him and torture him, they might as well get it over and done with.

“Hello, is anyone there?” Lewis shouts into the void, hoping that someone will be able to hear him. He’s almost certain that there would be some sort of camera in this room keeping a monitor on the teenager.

“Doctor Denman?” The merman tries again, turning his head towards the door, waiting for someone to walk through.

“Don’t you guys have heaps of experiments and tests to do on me? Why not get started now, huh?” Lewis calls out loudly once more, knowing that he is likely provoking Denman and her team, but he doesn’t care at this point. He has already lost his freedom and control of his life; what more does Lewis have to lose?

Suddenly, the door bursts open, breaking Lewis out of his self-pitying thoughts. Lewis watches as Doctor Denman herself walks into the room, carrying a clipboard and a pen. She carefully closes the door behind her and walks over to the table Lewis is lying on, a thin smile curving up at the edges of her mouth.

“Ah, it’s good to see that you’re awake, Lewis. I trust that you had a pleasant sleep.” Linda greets the teenager with fake — but apparently required — pleasantries.

“Cut the bullshit, Denman. Just get to the point.” Lewis snarls, not in the mood to play any sort of mind games right now. Linda raises her eyebrows and scoffs in disbelief whilst shaking her head, a hint of annoyance etched into her expression. From Lewis’ perspective, it seems to him that Linda is a little bit… offended?

“Very well, if that’s the way you want it to be. I was just trying to be friendly. We are going to become very well acquainted with each other in the next few weeks, after all.” Linda says, still sounding a little upset, to which Lewis merely rolls his eyes.

“What are you going to do with me?” Lewis asks, choosing not to respond to Denman’s comment about them spending a lot of time together in the upcoming weeks. He is sure none of it will be pleasant for him.

“Well, we have already conducted some parts of a basic physical examination while you were asleep, including some simple blood tests, both in your human form and merman form to try and identify the differences. So far, the results seem promising. But that’s only the beginning, I’m afraid. Of course, to get a thorough and accurate physical examination, you have to be awake so that we can complete all of the required tests. But then from there, things will begin to get more complex as we try and learn every single detail that makes you... well, you.” Linda answers, sounding excited and fascinated at the idea of future experiments that she could experiment on Lewis. Realising this fact, Lewis scowls in response, hating being seen just as some sort of fun science experiment for Linda just to play around with.

“I must warn you though, it’s going to be a long, painful and tedious process. However, it is a necessary process that I hope one day you’ll understand.” Linda continues, and for a moment Lewis swears that he can see a tiny bit of sympathy in her eyes. Lewis quickly dismisses the thought, putting it down to him just imagining things. There’s no way that a crazy scientist like Doctor Denman, who would rip Lewis apart piece by piece if she had to, would ever be able to feel any sort of sympathy or remorse for him. It’s just not possible. Hell, she’s the one that keeps saying that he’s not even a human being anymore and doesn’t have the same rights as everyone else. Lewis is almost certain it can’t be as simple as that from a legal standpoint, but then again, why would a deranged and discredited scientist care about the intricate details of morals and ethics in scientific research?

“This is wrong! You won’t get away with this! People will look for me! What are you going to do when the police find you?” Lewis snarls, staring up at Linda in disgust.

“As I said back in the moon pool, I have made sure to completely cover our tracks. There won’t be any believable evidence for the police to find that they can trace back to us. They will have to conclude that you just ran away and never came back. Even if the police were to find any sort of evidence, you should know that it would lead them to your fish friends first. Besides, if the police are somehow able to find us, do you really think that they or the law would be on your side? Something like you shouldn’t even exist, but somehow you do. The world will want me to keep studying you in captivity, to make sure that you’re nothing that humans should fear, and figure out how something like you can exist in the first place.” Linda explains with a nonchalant shrug, hoping that Lewis will realise that there is no way for him to get out of this and his only choice is to comply.

Seeing Lewis’ extremely unimpressed expression with a hint of hurt and betrayal in his eyes, Linda sighs tiredly and asks, “Look, I get that you aren’t on board with all of this. Not yet, anyway. But do you want to know something that intrigues me and makes this all so much more interesting?”

“What?” Lewis snaps back harshly, scowling up at his captor.

“With you being the way that you are proves that merpeople don’t have to necessarily be born in the ocean. I mean, when I was here on the Gold Coast only a year or two ago, you were definitely just as human as I was. But here we are now, and all of that has changed. I could never previously be sure about the idea of humans somehow turning into half-fish creatures at a later stage in life, as that seemed more impossible than merfolk existing in the first place,” Linda begins to explain to the teenager breathlessly, her mind whirling with hundreds of theories and questions.

“But?” Lewis says impatiently, eyes narrowing as he continues to glare up at Linda.

“But then I saw you jump into the canal after leaving my boat the other day. From all I knew of Cleo, Emma and Rikki, they could have always been mermaids, and I guess that is still possible,” Linda replies honestly with a small shrug.

“But you, you’re definitive proof that complete cellular mutation doesn’t have to be present from birth! With enough time, money and research, there is a real possibility that your cellular mutation could play a part in wiping out terminal diseases. Surely even you have to find that amazing.” Linda continues to speak when Lewis doesn’t comment.

“At the cost of my life, and you threatening my friends just so there’s maybe a small chance there might be a breakthrough in curing certain diseases?” Lewis scoffs in response, his eyebrows raising up into his fringe in disbelief.

“Imagine a world where people wouldn’t have to die of cancer anymore! If I remember correctly, didn’t your father die of cancer, Lewis? With your help, we can try and stop other kids from suffering that same fate!” Linda exclaims, wishing that Lewis could understand things from her point of view.

“Don’t bring my dad into this! That’s not fair!” Lewis says as a scowl reappears on his face.

“Alright, alright, fine. I’m sorry.” Linda surrenders hurriedly, raising her hands in the air to help signify her sincerity.

“What are you going to do with me when you get all of the information you need anyway?” Lewis asks tiredly, knowing full well that Linda doesn’t have any intentions of letting Lewis walk free.

“My research funder, Robert Wilson, will be delighted to meet you, I’m sure. He has been trying to find proof of merfolk for years, after being saved by one many years ago in his youth. Once I’m done with you, Robert can do whatever he wants. I suspect that he will want to show you off to the world and let people gawk at you. If I were you, I’d try and get used to being kept in small spaces, particularly small tanks.” Linda replies with a cold, cruel smile. Lewis angrily pulls against his restraints again out of anger and desperation, praying that he can still get out of this somehow by some sort of miracle.

“Hey now, remember that you agreed to cooperate with us. I don’t need to remind you of the consequences if you don’t.” Linda says warningly.

“Leave Cleo, Emma and Rikki alone!” Lewis cries out, tugging against his restraints once more, ignoring the pain of the cuffs digging into his wrists and ankles.

“I guess we’ll see about that, won’t we?” Linda retorts threateningly as she glares down at Lewis. After a couple of tense silence filled seconds, Linda quickly composes herself and tucks her long blonde hair behind her ears.

“Okay. So, we won’t do any more tests on you today. I want to take the time to plan everything out and make sure we conduct every test necessary to analyse every part of you. For now, my colleagues will escort you to your new room, which you will be staying in 24/7 unless you’re undergoing tests and experiments. Is that understood?” Linda asks as she walks back over towards the door and opens it, allowing two large, intimidating looking men at least twice the size of Lewis walk into the room.

“Do I at least get clothes?” Lewis comments, feeling extremely uncomfortable and exposed by just being in his underwear like this while being examined by the group of scientists. 

“Of course. We have a set of clothes waiting for you in your room.” Linda laughs as she steps aside, allowing the two men to walk over to Lewis and unstrap him from the table. Before Lewis can even begin to react, his new bodyguards hoist him up by hooking their hands under Lewis’ arms and begin shoving him out of the creepy dark room with the metal table. As the three of them walk down the hallway, Lewis glances around him to get at least some sort of idea of where they might be. The corridor is long and narrow, with many doors presumably leading into rooms all lined up in a row on both sides of the drab, grey walls. Very few light bulbs are hanging from the ceiling in irregular intervals, but it is at least enough of a source of light for Lewis to somewhat make out the scenery around him.

The two guards continue pushing Lewis along through the corridor, causing Lewis to trip and stumble a few times. The drug that had been injected into him back in the moon pool still hasn’t worn off completely yet, his limbs feeling numb and useless. Eventually, the guards stop outside a door with the number 25 labelled on it. One of the guards let’s go of Lewis as he grabs out his keys, finds the correct one and proceeds to unlock the door. Once the door is open, the two guards shove Lewis inside, who falls onto the hard concrete floor, wincing in pain. Lewis glances over his shoulder to look at the two men standing in the doorway.

“You will receive three meals and three bottles of water a day, and they will be delivered to you via this slot in the door,” one of the men says, pointing towards a section about halfway down the door that appears to look like it can be opened. It’s not very wide or large, but it looks good enough to slide a container of food through.

“This door will only open when Doctor Denman wants to start running tests. Is that clear?” The other man asks, raising his eyebrow slightly.

“Yes...” Lewis mumbles as he gives the guards a small nod. Without another word, the two guards step back out into the hallway, quickly shutting the door and locking the merman inside the dark room. For a few moments, the teenage boy just continues to lie on the cold hard floor with his eyes closed in despair, having a hard time trying to process that this is his new reality. After several minutes though, the young scientist pushes himself up into a sitting position and takes time to observe his new surroundings.

The room is fairly small, and once again there are no windows; his only light source coming from a small lamp sitting on the floor, next to a rickety old bed with a mattress that looks like it has been rotted through. On the other side of the room, Lewis spots a toilet and small sink with a stack of toilet paper standing between them. While it is fairly dirty, Lewis is relieved to at least have a toilet in here. He also spots a pile of folded clothes that have been laid for him on the old, rotten bed. Lewis sighs as he crawls his way over to the bed and grabs the clothes, hurriedly putting them on. He notices that on the right front side of the shirt, the letters _“Subject A”_ have been stitched into the fabric. A sour taste fills Lewis’ mouth as he quickly comes to the realisation that he is not Lewis McCartney anymore. Instead, he is nothing more than some sort of lab rat to be poked and prodded by a bunch of people who can no longer see him as a person, only recognising him as Subject A. That very thought makes Lewis want to throw up.

After a few moments of contemplating whether or not it is safe or healthy to do so, Lewis eventually sits down on the bed, shuffling towards the back of it so he can lean against the wall. Lewis pulls his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs tightly. He has never felt more alone or terrified in his entire life. How the hell did he ever end up in his mess? God, Lewis wishes his life could go back to normal, before all of the Mako Island mayhem began for him and his friends.

“At least you’re still safe, Cleo. I hope you know how much I love you. Please don’t look for me. I don’t want you to end up like this, too...” Lewis mumbles to himself quietly as he squeezes his eyes tight shut as tears begin to well up in his eyes, feeling completely helpless and doomed to his fate.


	35. Without a Trace

The next morning, Cleo is pacing around her room nervously, fidgeting with her very messy and frizzy bed hair as she does so. The mermaid could not sleep at all last night, no matter how much she tried. Cleo's mind was completely focused on Lewis; her heart racing a million miles an hour as she tossed about beneath her bed sheets all night, her gut instinct telling her that something was seriously wrong. Every few minutes during the night, Cleo kept checking her phone to see if Lewis had messaged her at all. Unfortunately, no messages ever came.

At 7 am, the mermaid decided to give up on trying to sleep entirely. Clearly, it was not going to happen, so she resorted to walking around her room, trying to burn off some of her nervous energy. Cleo keeps trying to tell herself that Lewis will be fine, just as all of her friends tried to reassure her last night. She so desperately wants to believe that to be true but refuses to get her hopes up about it since it is looking highly unlikely. Lewis would never keep her in the dark like this. He isn't the type of person to bail on a date and not apologise for it. Not to mention, Lewis clearly wasn't the only one at Mako last night. Whoever that was there with Lewis is almost certainly the reason why he was gone by the time Cleo showed up. The poor girl's mind is whirling with so many worries and theories that she starts to feel a little dizzy, a throbbing headache starting to pound against her brain. As she continues pacing, the more and more Cleo wants to scream in frustration. She just wants answers. She just wants Lewis to call her and reassure her that he is okay. Why can't he call her? Does he even have his phone on him? Why is this happening?

Suddenly, a knock on her bedroom door startles Cleo out of her thoughts, causing her to jump in surprise and snap her head to look over at the door. Only a second later, the bedroom door opens to reveal her father, Don Sertori, walking into Cleo's room.

"Morning, Dad." Cleo mumbles, trying to not let the distress that is eating her from the inside creep into her voice.

"Good morning, sweetheart. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, honey. I'm about to head off to work, and I was just coming to let you know that I'll be working very late tonight. There is a lot is going on at the moment, with one of my boats currently out of action just as the demand for fish decided to spike up. Anyway, I'm going to give you some money so you and Kim can order some pizza for dinner for yourselves." Don says with an apologetic smile. However, his smile quickly fades as he starts to take notice of Cleo's very dishevelled appearance, with bags and black-purple rings under her drooping eyes, indicating to Don that his daughter didn't get any sleep last night.

"Are you alright, Cleo?" Don frowns in concern as he steps towards his daughter.

"I'm fine," Cleo responds snappishly as she turns away from her dad while hugging her arms close to her chest, barely keeping it together at this point. The mermaid's eyes are beginning to sting with unshed tears and her throat feels like it has swallowed a toad that has gotten stuck there.

"Hmm, well you don't sound fine," Don says, unconvinced. He makes his way over to his daughter and places a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You can talk to me, chooks. You can tell me anything, remember?" Don reminds his daughter in a soft voice. There is a moment of silence between the father and daughter as Cleo pauses, hesitating with the decision of whether or not she should tell her dad about her fears for Lewis. Eventually, Cleo decides that she can't keep this fear from her dad. He would likely have found out about it at some point anyway. Besides, what if he knew how to help?

"Um, well... Last night, Lewis and I were supposed to go on a date," Cleo begins nervously as she turns back around to face her dad.

"Go on," Don says sternly with a frown, already not liking where this is going. Lewis had seemed like a good kid in the rare occasions that Don has spent time with him, but if Lewis has hurt Cleo in any way, Don swears that he will make Lewis regret it until the day he dies. No one messes with Don's daughters.

"Oh, god, Dad, it's not anything like that!" Cleo groans, knowing exactly where her father's line of thinking is going.

"Then what is it like, then? Has he hurt you? Ugh, I knew you were too young to have a boyfriend! Why did I ever agree to let you have one?" Don replies, his thoughts clearly spiralling out of control. Cleo can almost see the cogs turning in his head as he tries to plan a way to punish Lewis.

"Dad! First of all, I'm almost 18! I'm not a little girl anymore! And second, just let me finish explaining instead of just assuming the whole story, please!" Cleo exclaims frustratedly, starting to think that maybe telling her father wasn't a good idea after all.

"Fine, fine. Please continue." Don sighs defeatedly.

"Thank you. Now, as I was saying, Lewis and I were supposed to be going on a date last night. However, when I arrived at the location, Lewis was nowhere to be seen. But the area was all set up for our date! He was definitely there before I arrived! And... I-I think someone else was there with him." Cleo continues to explain hurriedly, leaving her feeling breathless.

"So he's cheating on you?!" Don shouts in horror.

"That son of a bitch, I'm going to kill him-"

"Dad, stop! Lewis is not cheating on me, okay? Stop jumping to conclusions!" Cleo interrupts her dad abruptly, shouting over the top of him, stunning Don into silence.

"Whoever it was that was there with Lewis, I don't think it was anyone with good intentions towards him. I'm... I'm really scared, Dad. I'm terrified that something terrible has happened to Lewis. I just have a really bad feeling about this." Cleo continues, much more quietly this time, her voice wobbling as she tries her hardest not to cry. Cleo's vision blurs as tears begin to fill her eyes and her bottom lip begins to tremble.

Don stares at his daughter in shock, unable to comprehend what is happening. Cleo does indeed look terrified and on the verge of bursting into sobs. It is clear that she truly believes that something bad must have happened to Lewis last night. Don isn't sure if that is true though, as he still thinks it's very possible that Lewis just bailed on Cleo and maybe even ran off with some other girl. However, as he looks into Cleo's distressed and tearful eyes, Don decides to give her the benefit of the doubt. They have to get to the bottom of this.

"Have you tried to call him?" Don asks, getting straight down to the point.

"Yes. Over 50 times, as well as at least a hundred text messages. No answers whatsoever." Cleo responds sadly, biting her lip in an attempt to keep her from completely losing it and crumbling down into a ball on the floor while sobbing her heart out.

"Okay... how about his mother? Or any of his brothers? Have you tried them? I'm sure one of them would have an idea of where Lewis might be." Don tries to suggest helpfully, hating to see Cleo so upset like this.

"N-no, I haven't actually. I-I was planning on it, but I hadn't gotten around to it... it's just that Lewis never has his phone off, so that's even more of an indicator that something is terribly wrong. And I'm kind of worried about alerting Lewis' family to that if they indeed don't know where he is..." Cleo stammers, quickly wiping away some of the silent tears rolling down her face. Don sighs and pauses for a moment, considering how to respond next.

"Well, you're going to have to call them eventually, sweetheart. They have to know about this. And besides, maybe they already know where Lewis is? Like you said, we shouldn't jump to any conclusions, right?" Don says, hoping to calm Cleo down a little bit.

"I guess so..." Cleo mumbles as she looks down at the ground, her vision still blurred from her tears.

"Hey. It's going to be okay, sweetie. I promise." Don says as he gives Cleo's shoulder a comforting squeeze. Cleo looks up at him blearily, her eyes red and puffy from the constant tears streaming down her face.

"How? How do you know that, Dad?" Cleo asks, her voice breaking a little, which in turn breaks Don's heart. He never wanted his little girl to sound this completely heartbroken and afraid. He quickly pulls her into a tight, warm and comforting hug, which Cleo gratefully accepts and returns.

"Lewis is a smart kid. He will be okay," Don reassures his daughter firmly, but in his mind, cracks of doubt are starting to form. If Cleo is right about this, Lewis could be in big trouble. They may never see him again. Of course, Don doesn't have the heart to tell his daughter that. How could he? It was clear that Lewis means the world to Cleo. She would be absolutely destroyed if the worst has indeed happened to him.

"Anyway, I wish I could stay and talk about this with you more, but I really have to go. I strongly suggest that you give Mrs McCartney a call today. I'll see you tonight. I love you, honey." Don says after a couple of moments of silence, pulling out of the hug and giving Cleo a quick kiss on the head.

"Okay, Dad. See you tonight. I love you too." Cleo sniffles and wipes the tears away from her face once more. Cleo even attempts to give her dad a reassuring smile as he begins to exit her room.

Once her father is gone though, and her bedroom door is closed once again, Cleo can't hold back her emotions anymore. The mermaid collapses onto the floor as an unstoppable waterfall of tears pour down her face, dripping onto her bedroom carpet. Her sniffling turns into sobs, which then quickly turns into full-on wailing, her body shaking as she heaves in and out. Cleo holds her head in her hands as she continues to cry in despair, feeling completely helpless and alone. How could this be happening? All Cleo wants right now is for Lewis to be right here beside her, reassuring her that everything is going to be okay. That Lewis is okay.

~~~

Later that morning, Cleo is sitting down in the living room, feeling numb. She had stopped crying hours ago. She thought crying would be the worst part, hating how she couldn't stop the tears from falling and blinding her vision, or how her body was constantly trembling, or especially how she could barely even breathe. However, the numb and empty feeling that came after the tears was worse. Much worse. It feels as though someone has punched a hole right through Cleo, and the life is slowly draining out of her. She feels less connected to her surroundings and is instead stuck in the emptiness and darkness of her mind. Cleo feels like she has lost a part of herself. The teenage mermaid realises that she should be concerned about these feelings, but at the moment at least, she honestly doesn't care. All she wants is to have some sort of confirmation, no matter how small, that Lewis is safe.

Unexpectedly, the ringtone of her phone finally snaps Cleo out of her numb and miserable state. Cleo jumps in surprise and her heart skips a beat before fumbling around in her jeans' back pocket to grab her phone. Once she grabs hold of it, she hurriedly flips it open, presses the answer button and holds it up to her ear.

"Lewis?!" Cleo asks breathlessly.

"Um... no, I'm afraid not, my dear. This is Kelly McCartney, Lewis' mother." The voice on the other end of the phone answers hesitantly.

"Oh... sorry..." Cleo mumbles, unable to hide the huge disappointment in her voice as she slumps back down into the couch, feeling deflated.

"I was actually ringing you to ask if you knew where Lewis was... he didn't come home last night, which is not like him at all. I thought that he might have been with you, or that you at least might have known where he is." Kelly continues talking, her voice tightly laced with panic. Cleo's stomach drops and dread starts crashing on top of her like a tidal wave. Mrs McCartney's words are just the cherry on top of the cake for Cleo. There's no doubt in her mind now. Lewis is missing, and she highly doubts that it's because he ran away. Why would Lewis even want to run away?

"No, I'm sorry, I haven't seen him. We were supposed to go on a date last night, but he didn't turn up. I was planning on calling you today to see if you knew where he was." Cleo answers reluctantly, hating to break the news to Lewis' mother. Going by how Cleo herself feels after Lewis has been missing for only around 12 hours, Cleo can't even begin to imagine how Mrs McCartney must feel.

"Have you... have you tried to call him?" Kelly asks in a small voice.

"Yeah, but he hasn't answered. I tried to call him many times, and I've sent him a bunch of texts, but I haven't gotten any response. I'm assuming you haven't gotten a hold of him either?" Cleo sighs sadly.

"No, I haven't..." Kelly replies, sounding defeated.

"I'm really sorry, Mrs McCartney. If I hear anything from Lewis, I promise I will call you." Cleo says, trying to sound reassuring for Lewis' mother. Figuring out that your son is missing would be one of the worst things imaginable.

"It's okay, Cleo, it's not your fault... but I think it's about time that I call the police." Kelly McCartney sighs sadly.


	36. Swimming Against the Tide

Later that day, sometime in the mid-afternoon, Cleo finds herself in an interview room inside the local police station. Two detectives sit across from her on the other side of the table in between them, with one of the detectives scribbling down notes on their notepad.

“So, Cleo, when was the last time that you heard from Lewis?” One of the detectives named Ian Jenkins asks, folding his hands together in front of him and leaning forwards on the table.

“It was probably around 5 pm yesterday. I called him and I told him that I was being held back at work, so I would be late for our date last night. On the phone, Lewis said that he was fine with that and had no problems waiting a little longer for me. If anything, it gave him more time to set everything up the way he wanted, anyway.” Cleo responds, looking between the two detectives anxiously.

“Where were you guys going for your date?” Detective Jenkins asks curiously, whilst his colleague, Detective Nicholas Anderson, glances up from his notepad and looks over to Cleo for a moment. Cleo shifts in her seat nervously, not sure of the best way to answer Jenkins’ question. If they want any chance of finding Lewis, of course, Cleo should tell the detectives the truth about the location where they were supposed to have their date. However, that of course comes with major risks. She knows that she can’t risk exposing the secrets of the moon pool or her friends to the police, and Cleo is certain that Lewis wouldn’t want her to risk that possibility either.

“Miss Sertori?” Detective Anderson asks, a worried frown beginning to form and stressed wrinkles quickly appear on his forehead.

“Oh! Um, yeah, sorry. Spaced out for a moment,” Cleo stammers out as she tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear, feeling her face heat up slightly in embarrassment.

“Where were you and Lewis planning on going for your date?” Jenkins asks once again. Cleo bites her lip for a couple of seconds as she contemplates what to do, her heart feeling like it is going to explode out of her chest at any moment. After a few more seconds, Cleo eventually decides to try and tell as much of the truth as possible. It is unlikely that the police would ever actually look too much into the moon pool specifically and discover what it can do. Besides, Lewis is more important than the slight risk of the police investigating the moon pool. His life could be on the line!

“Um, well, we had planned to go on a trip out to Mako. Lewis had organised a picnic and everything. By the time I got to Mako Island, Lewis was nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere but only found the picnic supplies. I knew something had to be wrong.” Cleo eventually answers, trying not to think about how Emma and Rikki will kill her for revealing even this tiniest amount of information to the police.

“Mako Island?” Anderson comments in surprise, his eyebrows rising significantly.

“That’s an odd place for a date. Especially at night. How did you even see anything out there last night?” Jenkins frowns suspiciously.

“We, er, had torches? Plus, we’ve been to Mako quite a few times together in the past, so we both know the Island well. It’s not like it was our first time there or anything. We just wanted to do something different, I guess. Something a bit more meaningful than just seeing a movie,” Cleo explains, hoping that the detectives will just drop it and leave it at that. There is an awkward pause between the three people in the room for a moment or two, where Jenkins continues to gaze at Cleo, trying to decide on whether or not to believe her.

“So, what makes you so sure that someone was there with Lewis last night?” Jenkins continues while Anderson goes back to writing notes in his notebook.

“I don’t know, a part of it is just a gut feeling. But I also saw footprints in the sand. There were definitely more footprints than just one person could ever leave behind in a small area.” Cleo replies honestly.

“Okay. Where about on the island were you and Lewis going to meet up?” Jenkins asks, determined to be able to solve this case. Something tells him that there might be more to Lewis’ disappearance than what first meets the eye.

“Um...” Cleo hesitates, her heart pounding in her chest. The mermaid feels her stomach flip over and over inside of her as Cleo’s nerves and fear come to a boil. Cleo tries to take a deep breath, reminding herself not to panic, even though she is somewhat leading the police closer and closer to the biggest secret of Cleo and her friends’ lives. How much further can Cleo continue to tell the truth without risking the exposure of merpeople? She is afraid that she may have already crossed that line.

“Miss Sertori. I understand that all of this must be very difficult for you, but we want to find Lewis just as much as you do. But to do that, you need to tell us the whole truth. Otherwise, we may never be able to figure out what happened to him. You are the last known person to have heard from Lewis. Whatever information that you have of last night could be very valuable to this case. Please don’t withhold anything from us.” Jenkins states sternly, growing more suspicious of Cleo’s continuing reluctance to answer his questions. The girl is definitely hiding something.

“I understand, Detective. I’m sorry. This is just... really hard for me to talk about. I just really want Lewis to be okay. I hate to think that something terrible has happened to him...” Cleo apologises truthfully. This entire interview has been extremely distressing and Cleo wants nothing more than to be done with it. She doesn’t want to keep reliving the last moments of contact she had with Lewis, or recounting the exact time that she had realised Lewis was missing. It just makes it all too real for Cleo, and she isn’t sure if she’s ready to handle the worrying reality of any of this yet. In some ways, the mermaid is still in denial about Lewis’ disappearance. A part of her still thinks and hopes that maybe he just got caught up in one of his science experiments and was too distracted to answer his phone.

“We understand, Miss. We’re here to help. It’s kind of our jobs, after all,” Anderson offers with a supporting smile, which Cleo appreciates and smiles back at him in return. The teenage mermaid lets out a small, resigned sigh before she continues talking.

“Okay... um, so there’s this kind of cave area, sort of underground. It’s a bit of a trek to get to, and the entrance to the caves isn’t exactly an easy or pleasant experience. But once you’re inside, you’ll realise how amazing it is. The cave tunnels eventually lead into the inside of the dormant volcano, with a pool of water leading out to the ocean in the middle of the cavern. It’s kind of been our secret spot for a couple of years. Only Lewis and I knew about this secret place. We didn’t want anyone else to find out about it in case they tried to ruin it, you know?” Cleo explains, trying to keep the nerves out of her voice. She really hopes that she doesn’t end up regretting telling the police this. The moon pool is the key that could expose merpeople, not to mention humans just tend to ruin nature anyway. However, Cleo reminds herself that this is all in a desperate attempt to find Lewis. He could be in real danger, so Cleo decides that telling the police some of the truth is a risk that is worth taking. If it was the other way around, Cleo is sure that Lewis would try and do the same for her.

“Wow. Sounds like you guys know some great hang out spots. Although, I don’t know if I’d ever feel comfortable in a volcano myself, even if it is dormant,” Anderson chuckles lightly.

“We will definitely have to check out this place for any sort of clues that could help us find Lewis. Maybe even find evidence of a sign of struggle.” Jenkins says thoughtfully, the gears turning in his head as he begins to formulate a strategy on how to move forward with the investigation.

“I don’t know if you’ll find anything that interesting out there... I mean, as I said before, the only thing I could find was the sets of footprints.” Cleo says hastily, her palms beginning to become sweaty as panic sets in.

“Footprints can be very useful pieces of evidence for a case like this, Cleo. Our forensics team will be able to figure out things such as what shoes made the footprints and begin tracking down where they might have come from. It’s fascinating work.” Jenkins replies, once again suspicious of Cleo’s reactions. Clearly, there’s something on Mako Island that she doesn’t want to talk about, but why? Is it possible that Cleo could actually be at least somewhat part of the reason behind Lewis McCartney’s disappearance? It is certainly a scenario that Jenkins has to investigate further.

“I guess...” Cleo mumbles, not liking the sound of where this is going. Even though she knows it’s unlikely that the police will discover anything magical about Mako Island, it still doesn’t make her feel very comfortable knowing that the police force will be poking around Mako for a while. Mako is a second home to Cleo; she doesn’t want to see it be destroyed or truly be discovered by anyone else. If it makes herself angry, Cleo is nervous about how Rikki and Emma would react to police snooping around the island.

“Okay, I think we have all that we need from you, today. This has been a good starting point. Plus, we still have to talk to all of Lewis’ brothers. Thank you for your cooperation. We will be in touch, Miss Sertori. I am sure that we will have more questions to ask you in the days to come.” Detective Jenkins says as he stands up, with Detective Anderson and Cleo following suit.

“I’m just glad that I can help,” Cleo replies with a forced smile.

~~~

“Are you insane?! How could you tell them about the moon pool?!” Rikki yells once the three mermaids have made their way back to Cleo’s house, where thankfully Don and Kim have gone out for the day.

“What choice did I have, Rikki? We have to find Lewis!” Cleo exclaims exasperatedly as the trio walk into the living room. Emma and Cleo sit down on the couch while Rikki remains standing, looking down at her two best friends with a furious expression on her face.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe _not_ telling the police about the moon pool? That is _our_ place! What happens if they discover that there’s something strange about Mako Island and the moon pool, huh? What then? How long will it take them to come hunting after mermaids?!” Rikki continues to shout, unable to contain her fury.

“Rikki, calm down. Let’s just think about this for a moment. The police are only going to be looking for evidence of Lewis and anyone else that might have been there last night. It is highly unlikely that they’ll be there long enough to realise that the moon pool is more important than they think.” Emma speaks up, trying to remain calm and rational about all of this. She can see both sides of the argument and hopes that she can get her friends to come to some sort of middle ground. It’s not common for Emma to be the voice of reason in arguments. That job usually belongs to Cleo and it’s almost always Emma and Rikki fighting, so this situation is a little strange for Emma.

“Ha! That’s a huge gamble to take! They could easily discover the truth about merfolk and the magic of the moon pool, now that Cleo stupidly gave them information on Mako Island and the pool in the first place!” Rikki snarls, her eyes narrowing as she looks between her two friends angrily.

“The risk of the police figuring out the mystery of Mako Island is very small, especially since they are focusing on a missing person case. Besides, Lewis is worth that gamble! His life could be in danger, Rikki! Do you get that?” Cleo shouts back, feeling her face start to go hot with anger, her hands starting to clench into fists.

“Oh, come on, Cleo! That’s bullshit! The police aren’t going to find Lewis, okay? But hey, at least they might find three fish freaks that could make them a hell of a fortune, right?” Rikki laughs sarcastically.

“So, what are you saying? That we should just give up on trying to find Lewis?!” Cleo screeches as she jumps to her feet, walking over to Rikki angrily, her entire body shaking with fury.

“Our lives are not worth being put in danger just because of some boy that probably just forgot to come home after going on a stupid fishing trip,” Rikki states firmly. 

“How can you say that? What if Lewis is injured? What if… what if he’s already dead?” Cleo asks in a shaky voice, her vision starting to blur from the tears welling up in her eyes.

“Well, if that’s the case, there’s not much that we can do for Lewis, is there? It’s not worth giving up our secret or freedom. I will not end up in a fish tank for the rest of my life for the geek.” Rikki snaps back coldly. 

Without thinking, Cleo raises her hand and quickly slaps it across Rikki’s face, leaving a large red hand mark across the left side of it. All three girls stare in shock down at Cleo’s hand as she pulls it back in towards herself. Rikki and Emma’s mouths drop open in disbelief while Cleo’s eyes widen in horror, at a loss for words. Cleo had always seen herself as the calm one. The brunette usually hates confrontation and arguments, but Rikki’s careless and dismissive attitude about Lewis’ disappearance is really rubbing Cleo the wrong way. How could her friend be so nonchalant about Lewis potentially being in mortal danger? Although, slapping Rikki was probably an overreaction on Cleo’s part.

“Okay, I think we all just need to calm down for a moment...” Emma says tentatively as she gets up from the couch and walks over to her friends, getting in between them before things escalate further.

“Are you kidding me?! After that shit?!” Rikki exclaims in disbelief, gesturing towards Cleo, while her face still stings from the slap.

“Stop treating Lewis’ life as completely unimportant! We can’t just give up on him, Rikki! He could _die_! How dare you suggest something like that!” Cleo retaliates angrily.

“I’m not saying that his life is unimportant, Cleo! But we can’t put ourselves in danger to try and find him! Lewis would not want that either!”

“How the hell would you know what Lewis would want?!”

“Guys! Cool it! This arguing isn’t helping anyone, including Lewis!” Emma finally yells in frustration, causing Cleo and Rikki to go silent and look towards Emma expectantly, who sighs before continuing to speak.

“Look… what’s done is done. We can’t change what has happened. Besides, I don’t know if Cleo could have done anything else in that situation with those detectives, anyway. If she hadn’t told the police the truth, they might have gotten suspicious of her having something to do with his disappearance, which would have been another huge problem all on its own,” Emma says, trying to get Rikki to see some reason. 

“All we gotta do is lay low for a while and stay well away from Mako. Just until the investigation taking place there is over. It’s not going to be that hard. And hopefully, either the police manage to find Lewis, or he comes back by himself. It is still possible that Lewis isn’t in danger,” Emma continues while she glares between her two friends.

“Um? And what about my face?!” Rikki raises her eyebrows as she points to the red mark on her cheek. 

“Look, I’m sorry that I hit you, Rikki. That was wrong, and I don’t know what came over me. But try and think about all of this from my perspective, okay?” Cleo says, trying to keep her tone as calm as possible.

“God, do you even hear yourself? It’s like you’re completely forgetting that we’re mermaids! People would exploit that if they knew about us, just as Denman was trying to do. Are you trying to become someone’s experiment and be poked and prodded at forever? I know I certainly don’t want that to happen to me, and I am intending on keeping it that way! Stop telling the police about Mako Island. It’s that simple. If Lewis really was in some sort of danger, he probably wouldn’t be found by police anyway. Don’t you know how many people go missing and are never seen again, their disappearances always remaining unsolved? You could be risking our lives for nothing, Cleo. That’s not fair.” Rikki argues back, narrowing her eyes at the brunette.

“You’re still not thinking about Lewis in any of this! That’s what’s not fair! I know that he wouldn't stop looking for any of us if we were missing! He would risk everything for us!” Cleo exclaims, running a hand over her face in frustration for a moment. She pauses for a second or two to try and collect herself as her voice catches in her throat; Cleo feels like she is about to burst out into uncontrollable crying at any moment.

“Do you… do you even care about Lewis?” Cleo asks as she eventually moves her hand away from her face while tears start to trickle down her cheeks.

“Of course I care about Lewis, goddamnit! But I know that he wouldn’t want us to end up in an aquarium exhibit as a result of us trying to help find him. There is no guarantee of our sacrifice ever paying off in that scenario, by the way! But clearly, your heart is bigger than your head and you’ll just end up getting all of us captured if we had it your way.” Rikki replies, shaking her head in disappointment. Rikki sighs and heads towards the front door. As she opens the door to leave, Rikki turns around and glances back over towards her two friends.

“You have a terrible slap, by the way. You should really work on that.” Rikki states matter of factly, and without waiting for any sort of protest from either girl, Rikki turns on her heels and walks out of the house, loudly slamming the door shut behind her.


	37. The Secrets That She Keeps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, I hope you're enjoying the story so far! I know I have had a lot of fun writing it. There are still plenty more chapters to come, so be prepared for all sorts of drama, suspense, twists and turns!
> 
> I just wanted to give you guys an update on my chapter upload schedule. I've been a bit busy lately, plus dealing with a little bit of writer's block, so I haven't managed to write as far ahead as I would have liked. Because of this, I will only be posting one chapter a week from now on, so I don't run out of completed chapters to post. Who knows how long it would be between updates if that happens. I feel like I would have less motivation to complete the story in a way? Writer's block and lack of motivation would completely take over, and I don't want that to happen. As a reader and a writer, regular and reliable updates are the best, so I really want to try and stick to that with this story.
> 
> I'm sorry for this inconvenience, I would love to go back to uploading two chapters a week in the near future if possible. For now though, I'll only be updating this story once a week, generally on Mondays.
> 
> Once again, thank you for reading this fic and leaving kudos and comments. It's so cool to see other people enjoying the shenanigans my mind has created aha. I hope you guys like the new chapter. 
> 
> Happy reading!

20 minutes after Rikki had stormed out of the house, Emma gives Cleo one final hug and reassures her that everything will be okay and that Rikki will eventually calm down and be more reasonable about things. Rikki usually needs more time to cool off from arguments and blow off some steam than the others do, especially when it comes to situations where their mermaid secret is in danger of being exposed. Emma thinks that Rikki’s extra sensitivity on this particular issue most likely stems from when Doctor Denman had almost captured the three of them. Zane had also been involved in that incident, completely betraying Rikki’s trust, causing her to become even more guarded than she had been previously. However, Emma does somewhat agree with some of the points that Rikki had made about the risks versus the rewards when giving certain information to the police, but she isn’t about to tell Cleo that.

Once Emma has said her final goodbye to Cleo, she quickly leaves the Sertori house, leaving Cleo all alone. Kim is staying over at a friend’s house today, and Cleo’s dad is working until 9 pm tonight. Honestly, Cleo feels a little relieved to have some time just to herself. The last 24 hours have been extremely stressful, and she just needs some time to clear her head and calm down from the argument with Rikki. 

Cleo grabs a snack from the pantry in the kitchen and then walks back into the lounge room. She picks up the remote and sits down on the couch before turning on the TV. The first channel that comes on when Cleo switches the TV on is playing a news programme. The story they are currently discussing is titled at the bottom of the screen as: “local teenage boy missing”. Cleo’s heart sinks, realising that Lewis’ disappearance has already made national news. Cleo sighs sadly as she settles into the couch and turns the volume up to hear what the news presenter is saying.

 _“-17-year-old male with blond hair was last seen at his home residence at 4:30 pm yesterday afternoon. However, according to friends and family of the missing teen, the teenager was planning on heading out to Mako Island last night. Police have begun searching the island, but there have been no signs of the 17-year-old as of yet, nor has the boy’s boat been spotted around the island. However, the police have confirmed that there has been evidence of people being on the island last night. Additionally, it is still unknown whether or not the boy has drowned. Police will continue investigating, with the lead detective, Ian Jenkins, believing that the boy’s disappearance can be classed as suspicious. If anyone has any information on Lewis McCartney’s disappearance, please call the number on the screen.”_ The female news announcer states solemnly as pictures of Lewis start to show up on the screen. 

Cleo’s breath hitches in her throat as an image of her and Lewis with his arm wrapped around Cleo’s shoulders, both of them wearing Santa hats, shows up on the television. She immediately recognises the memory associated with the photo; it was taken at Christmas last year. She had spent lunch with Lewis’ family at the McCartney house (which is where the photo was taken), and then the couple spent Christmas dinner with Cleo’s family in the Sertori household. It was a great day that Cleo remembers very fondly. At the time, it had only been a few weeks since Lewis and Cleo had gotten back together after Charlotte, so it was very much still the honeymoon phase.

Not wanting to listen in for any more bad news and rumours about what might have happened to Lewis from the news report, Cleo hurriedly turns the TV off. Well, trying to distract herself by watching TV turned out to be an absolutely horrible idea. Now she can’t get the smiling images of Lewis out of her head, already desperately missing seeing his loveable and goofy expressions in person, even though it has only been a day. Adding to that point, wherever Lewis is right now, Cleo is certain that he isn’t happy or carefree as he was in the photos that the news programme just showed, and that thought breaks Cleo’s heart. She hates to think about the fact that Lewis could be out there somewhere, cold, hurt, terrified and alone. Would he think that Cleo is looking for him? Would he want her to? Or would he think that she’s not trying hard enough?

Cleo is so wrapped up in her own guilt and anxiety-inducing thoughts, she barely notices the minutes tick by, which then turns into an hour. Then two. She only snaps back into reality when someone knocks loudly and abruptly on the front door. Confused, Cleo gets up from her position on the couch and walks to the front entrance. The mermaid hesitates for a moment, not sure if she really wants more visitors right now. However, Cleo decides that she should at least open up the door to see who it is. Reluctantly, the brunette unlocks the front door and opens it up, revealing Lenny McCartney standing on the other side, much to Cleo’s surprise.

“Lenny? What are you doing here?” Cleo frowns in confusion.

“Hi, Cleo. Sorry if I’ve disturbed you,” Lenny apologises quickly.

“No, no it’s okay. How can I help you?” Cleo smiles reassuringly.

“I just wanted to talk to you for a bit, if that’s okay with you?” Lenny asks hopefully.

“Yeah, of course! Come on in!” Cleo says as she opens the front door open wider and gestures for Lenny to enter the house. With a grateful smile, Lenny walks over the threshold and makes his way into the living room. Cleo quickly follows after him once she closes the front door once again. She watches as Lenny paces around the room for a few moments, fidgeting with his hands uneasily.

“Can I get you something to eat, or drink?” Cleo asks politely.

“No, no, it’s okay. Thank you for offering though,” Lenny responds, finally stopping his fretful pacing and goes to sit down on the couch. Cleo walks over and sits down next to the second oldest of the McCartney brothers.

“So...” Cleo begins, feeling a little awkward.

“So,” Lenny chuckles as he stares blankly at the window in front of him.

“What did you want to talk about?” Cleo asks gently. Lenny sighs before responding.

“I just... well, it’s about Lewis. I’m really scared for him. I just can’t feel like I can talk about it with my mum or brothers though. They are stressed enough about it as it is, and I’m trying to be strong for them, you know? I haven’t actually really told anyone about how I’m feeling yet... and it’s been really hard.” Lenny admits tiredly, still staring out the window.

“Yeah, I understand that. You’ve always been the strongest one in your family, keeping everything together and preventing things from falling apart entirely. It mustn’t be easy for you, Lenny. And now, this thing with Lewis... no one was expecting this. You don’t have to put on a brave face all the time, Lenny. You have to let yourself feel your pain as well.” Cleo replies softly, reaching out her hand and clasping Lenny’s hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. Lenny smiles a little and gives an appreciative squeeze of the hand back.

“I just don’t know what happened. Lewis used to tell me everything. But, in the past few years, I’ve noticed that he’s been growing more distant. I figured it must just be the normal teenage thing, but then a couple of months ago, Lewis started acting more and more strangely and being much more secretive.” Lenny continues to explain.

“Yeah, you told me that on the phone almost a month ago,” Cleo nods, remembering the distressed conversation the two of them shared and where they came to the conclusion that Lewis might have been cheating on Cleo.

“I just can’t help but feel that whatever was going on then is somehow related to Lewis’... disappearance,” Lenny says, his voice shaking a little as he glances over at Cleo with anxious and fearful eyes. Cleo bites her lip nervously, not knowing what to say. In all honesty, Lenny is probably right. Lewis’ disappearance probably does have something to do with him being a merman. Cleo is even starting to have a small, but horrifying suspicion that possibly Denman could be behind this somehow. Unfortunately, she can’t exactly explain any of this to Lenny.

“Do you know what’s been going on with Lewis lately? Anything at all? Has he been caught in some sort of trouble? Please, Cleo. I have to know.” Lenny asks desperately, voice filled with panic and fear for his little brother.

“I wish I knew, Lenny, I really do...” Cleo sighs, feeling useless. She hates lying to Lewis’ brother like this, especially seeing how much pain Lenny is currently in. Cleo has to remind herself that the truth will probably only make Lenny feel worse in the long run. That’s even if he decided to believe Cleo in the first place. It’s more likely that he would want to send her to a psych ward.

“I think you know more than you’re letting on,” Lenny comments abruptly, completely taking Cleo by surprise.

“What?” Cleo asks, blinking in shock.

“I know I’m not the mad science genius like Lewis is, but I’m not an idiot either. I get the feeling that you and the rest of Lewis’ friends know what has been happening with Lewis lately. Sure, you probably weren’t aware of it at first, but I have a strong feeling that you guys have figured it out.” Lenny says, staring pointedly at Cleo.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Cleo stammers nervously as she shifts uncomfortably in her seat, crumbling under the pressure. Lenny raises an eyebrow sceptically, clearly unconvinced.

“What aren’t you telling me? You love Lewis too, right? You want to find him, don’t you? If you tell me everything, we can try and find him together! Whatever it is that Lewis has been hiding, it can’t be as bad as you think. I mean, the worst has already happened, Cleo. Whatever secret you guys were hiding won’t scare me off or anything like that, I promise. I just want Lewis home, and safe.” Lenny pleads.

“Of course I love Lewis, and of course I want to find him!” Cleo protests indignantly, shocked that Lenny would even suggest otherwise.

“Then what are you not telling me?!” Lenny yells as he jumps to his feet, staring down at Cleo angrily, fed up with all of the secrets and lies. 

“Nothing! I’ve got nothing to tell you! I don’t know what’s been going on with Lewis, okay? I know just as much as you do!” Cleo retaliates as she too jumps to her feet and begins to walk towards Lenny and reaches her hand out to squeeze his shoulder in an attempt to calm Lenny down. However, before Cleo’s hand can even brush against Lenny’s shirt, he pulls away quickly, glaring at Cleo with sadness and disappointment.

“I don’t believe you. Whenever you’re ready to talk about what’s really going on, I’ll be here to listen. But until then... goodbye, Cleo. And if I were you, I wouldn’t come around to our house.” Lenny snaps harshly. Without another word and ignoring Cleo’s protests, Lenny turns around and storms out of the Sertori house, becoming the second person to violently slam the front door shut that day.


End file.
